Pakistan-India Cyberwar

Enoch Root writes "There's been a lot of talk in the past about the possibility of a "cyberwar" complementing a real war. Well, now it's a reality. India and Pakistan engaged in a cyberwar earlier this year." Quote from the story: "Several top Indian and Pakistani computer professionals in America and Europe are 'helping' their respective governments by supplying information on the best way to harm the enemy's computer systems."

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The Battlefield of the Future?

[gleam]

I actually just wrote a mini essay on the state of global political relations in the latter half of the twentieth century, and a large portion of my thesis for the future was on whether Informatics warfare was the battlefield of the future. I'm not the only one to think so, and here's something from the military:

The development and employment of "information warfare," especially when targeted against an adversary leadership's command and control systems or its ability to appear legitimate in the eyes of its population, also looms as a potent new warfare technique. In 1991, information technology already had changed warfighting. The global positioning system (GPS) allowed US and allied ground units participating in the "left hook" flanking attack against the Iraqi army to maintain their positions accurately on the Kuwaiti desert even during blinding sandstorms. Self-navigating data drones can be employed to search autonomously across numerous information networks. Propaganda via the Internet has already been used by belligerents. Vulnerability to computer virus warfare and other nonlethal disabling technologies now has the attention of national security planners.

(Excerpted from the Air Force's "Air Chronicles")

And from a different "Air Chronicles" article:

One development with implications for the military is the appearance of "hackers" and "phreakers"--persons who gain unauthorized access to computer and telephone systems, respectively. Since their emergence in the 1970s, hackers have repeatedly demonstrated their talent at overcoming computer security systems to access information. In some cases, intruders have gone beyond merely accessing a system; malicious damage has been done to computer databases, causing millions of dollars in loss to corporations and agencies. In most cases, hackers are amateur sleuths who simply treat secure computer systems as the world's greatest puzzle. But what if hacking were done for a more subtle, deliberate purpose? What if an organization of hackers cooperated in a coordinated attempt to gain access to a computer system? What if careful planning and preparation allowed this access to be gained with no trace left behind in the violated C2 system?

Implications of hacking and phreaking for intelligence collection are simple to grasp. A computer network or telephone system is designed to transmit information. Much of that information will form an excellent intelligence picture of an adversary. Simply monitoring the quantity of information flowing through a network can serve as an indicator of pending activity. Readers who served in the military may remember how the Department of Defense's TEMPEST program taught us all that the emissions from electronic equipment can be picked up from remote distances. The TEMPEST program taught us to take precautions against unauthorized monitoring. Computer networks can be monitored through telephone modems, peripheral equipment, power lines, human agents and other means. The information contained in these systems can be monitored without the user's knowledge.

So where is it all going to end up? Will we need soldiers in the future? Of course! Will our government begin Computer warfare as well? Chances are very high that it will. As it all becomes more prevalent the DoD will respond, and you can bet some of the script kiddies in Federal lockup right now will get some special offers.

Somewhat frightenedly yours,


-efisher
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