Cyber Warfare Becomes Rampant

Cyber warfare refers to any politically motivated hacking activity with the intention to cause damage to another nation's computer systems, or hacking activity that is a form of espionage that obtains critical information from a specified target. "The Economist" calls cyber warfare the "fifth domain of warfare," meaning that this form of warfare is intangible and uncharted, yet still highly important to a nation's ability to win or lose a war.

As hackers become increasingly skilled and creative, they devise more devastating malware, and cyber warfare becomes increasingly commonplace. In particular, during the years 2009, 2010 and 2011, cyber warfare has become rampant, including several incidents between the U.S. and China.

While the best anti-virus software can protect PCs very well, cyber warfare hackers use such sophisticated and advanced techniques to accomplish their malicious goals that anti-virus software has proven ineffective at deterring these hackers' efforts.

Characteristics of Cyber Warfare

Cyber attacks are unlike any other attack in traditional warfare because they are contained entirely in the digital realm. Cyber attacks are unique and difficult to defend against for several reasons. One is that the attackers can be anyone with a computer and access to the internet. These cyber warriors can inflict harm against another nation.

Even a single technophile can do a lot of damage. After all, young teenagers created and released some of the worst viruses to attack PCs. However, organized teams of software engineers are generally more effective and brutal with their cyber attacks.

Regardless of who the attackers really are, it's very difficult to identify those individuals. This is the second characteristic of cyber attacks – the anonymity of the hackers. It's very difficult, if not downright impossible, for a country's defenses to pinpoint hackers. The final characteristic of cyber warfare is that hackers with relatively minimal resources can target any high-value website, institution or government agency.

The characteristics of cyber attacks and the digital realm empower hackers by allowing them to go after high-value targets, while at the same time shielding their identities. Cyber attacks can be very powerful, since all modern nations depend on computer systems.

Cyber Warfare Runs Rampant

One of the most devastating ways hackers wage cyber warfare is through cyber espionage. Today, all sensitive financial, military, government and corporate information is stored digitally. Hackers want this information and implement a variety of tactics to steal it. In February 2011, hackers linked to China set forth a yearlong cyber spying campaign targeting the U.S. corporation Western Energy Companies. The campaign was known as Night Dragon. While U.S. authorities identified the hackers as Chinese, they were unable to pinpoint who the hackers were or if they were tied to the Chinese government.

In April 2009, hackers were able to make their way into the U.S. government's computer systems that contain huge amounts of data relating to the Joint Strike Fighter Project. The Joint Strike Fighter Project is the Department of Defense's most-expensive weapons program to date, which costs the Pentagon approximately 300 billion dollars. Hackers stole terabytes of data in seconds that included critical information about the electronics systems, design and engineering feats of U.S. aircraft. Again, the hackers were identified as being based in China, but that is all that U.S. authorities know about the perpetrators.

In January 2010, Google became the target of Chinese hackers. During a very well thought out attack, hackers stole intellectual property from Google and infiltrated the Gmail accounts of several Chinese human-rights activists. An investigation into the attack by Google prompted the internet giant to end its controversial decision to censor web searches on the Chinese version of the search engine, Google.cn.

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