ADVANTAGES OF CYBER POLITICS

Introduction

Whether or not society, politicians, or the military agree that true cyber warfare will take place in the future, or cyber terrorism, undoubtedly there are key advantages that will entice the forces of criminals, governments, hackers, activities, and terrorist to continue to pursue cyber attack tools as part of their agenda, leaving many vulnerable to exploitation or worse.

Advantages

Aviram Jenik, the chief executive officer of Beyond Security names several distinct criteria as to why cyber attacks hold unique  advantages in an article entitled “Cyberwar in Estonia and the Middle East.” The first reason is that a cyber attack can be selective and the ramifications controlled. A cyber attack could target a nations entire economy without necessarily destroying the critical underlying infrastructure or be used to target the nation’s infrastructure along with its economy. An economic attack may paralyze civilian life, weaken the state through loss of economic productivity and create public panic.

The second advantage, is that a cyber attack can executed in an “completely painless form” for the terrorist because an attack can be launched at the press of a button, and does not need the deployment of several operatives, which would heighten the risk of being caught by security forces.  This tactic has distinct advantages in terms of cost and visibility. The attack can be theoretically lethal with little warning and requires less effort to get past security barriers at places like airports, which may derail an operation. In addition, the operative that triggers the attack has the ease of a global expanse, able to launch  the attack  from a number of places not constrained to borders, essentially  gaining the flexibility to attack from any place in the world.  An attack at “ a click of a button” may be programmed to occur at a certain time or only if a certain logical condition is met. This enhances both the flexibility and the opportunity of the attack while increasing the likely hood of success.

Low cost is the third advantage, since “a 21 000-machine  bot net can be acquired for  just a few thousand dollars, and yet cause damage and disruption easily worth hundred of times that,.” This eliminates the cost of conventional weapons and operational risk. The fourth reason is that law enforcement and cyber security is not adequate to protect a nation’s cyber borders from these type of attacks. For example a DDoS attack may be thwarted by upgrading fire walls yet no nation, save a highly totalitarian regime, currently has the legal authority to order its ISPs, telecommunications companies and other online businesses to take protective measures like installing firewalls, leaving a country vulnerable to cyber terrorism.

Conclusion

These advantages are concrete, real and vital attractions to cyber perpetrators, along with state and non state actors alike, being especially solidified by the fact that governments cannot effectively coordinate amongst each other or often, even internally on the nature of cyberspace security. With exponential rise  in technology, it is likely more and more actors will see the benefits of cyber attacks in the new cyber world to come.

BY MUSA LILIAN BAPRM 42631