CYBER WARFARE - WAR IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Dated: July 14, 2020

WAR IN THE 21ST CENTURY

The German Philosopher Hegel believed that the locomotive of history was revolutions. As stated by him each political, social and economic system creates tensions and contradictions over period of time and this eventually leads to insurgency.  In the 18th century, the United States rebelled against the British rule and was influenced by civil war in the 19th century. The United Kingdom was formed by wars between England from one side and Scotland, Ireland and Wales from the other. The battle of Waterloo which culminated in 1815 where Britain got success over France in a series of conflicts was by its own civil wars. On the same aspect India also accomplished autonomy against the British Empire as a result of war and has achieved independence in this sense. So we can see that large numbers of states on the planet today, including the majority of significant states, are results of war. They are developed in the ways that would have gained them the name of rogue nations. The explanation for this is the 21st century’s growing conceptions of war. Although there were armed conflicts between the nations in the 21st century (Afghanistan, Iraq, etc), now it seems that the age of civil wars seems to be a thing of the past. A world war as observed twice in the 20th century seems unlikely to happen in the future. Even if there is a chance that one is to happen, it would surely not be a military one. With technological advances, nations all around the world have augmented their nuclear strength, and if they have not, they are steadily building up. All the countries throughout the world are trying to expand their powers to remain dominant over other nations, resulting in a security dilemma as all the other nations are trying to do the same. 

Conflicts between the nations can be seen in the field of military, technological advancement, cyber, nuclear and all other areas arising mostly because of insecurity which ultimately prompts a situation where there is an expanded potential for a war. The fear of nations and desire to be equal to others has shown an inclination towards a neo-realistic or even realist attitude. The concept of war has evolved greatly in recent era and clashes between the states are often resolved by those nuclear weapons and by having a place of more prominent control over the other in the international arena. Recently, there have been several occasions of nations trying to develop themselves in the global arena by trying to gain further recognition and thus increasing their forces. The increase in the number of nuclear weapons has implanted fear in the states and atomic war seems less likely to occur in the near future, in this manner states are trying to exercise their dominance over other states by gaining as much power as they can. 

It is not possible to have a war in recent times due to changes in the notions of war and increase in the nuclear power of the countries. Because of which nation tends to explore other ways of expressing and maintaining their dominance over other states. Cyber warfare is another dimension of this kind. Cyber warfare includes action of nation-state or international organization to target or try to damage computers or data networks of another country, such as computer virus, breach of technology, denial of services etc. This refers to a range of activities that are carried out using information and communication technologies. In this background, distinguishing between a cyber crime, cyber terrorism and cyber war also becomes relevant. An act of an entity against another person or organization is a cyber crime. The same when carried out for the purpose of carrying out or supporting terrorist activities is an act of cyber terrorism. On the other hand cyber war is a use of technology (mainly by hacking the servers or inflicting through trojans) by one nation to attack another nation and causing comparable harm. Cyber warfare is a silent war and often known as bloodless war as there is no protraction or violence which are generally associated with the term ‘war’.

Cyber warfare has been recognized as fifth domain of warfare (after air, land, water, and space). Cyber Warfare attacks are mainly carried out by programmers/ hackers who are well trained into the intricacies or complexities of computer and work under the sponsorship and backing of the country states. Then again we have cyber espionage, which is the use of computer networks to gain unlawful access to extract confidential information, typically from government or other organizations. The most common use of cyber espionage is to achieve political, financial or military advantage and it is achieved by using hacking methods and malware.

While cyber espionage is conducted by numerous nations all around the globe, the United State, China and Russia are considered as the most sophisticated and prolific cyber operatives. United States has also begun to consolidate cyber war into its war tenet. They have laid down the strategies, conventions, procedures and protocols for this type of blood less war.  China has been increasing the amount of time, assets and manpower expended on cyber espionage in recent years. The Russian Military is believed to have more sophisticated cyber weapons than even China. Like China, Russia also has unique military units committed to digital surveillance, where programmers are recruited straight out of the university. Like China, instead of simply stealing economic secrets, Russia uses its cyber strength to complement more violent ways of war. Over the past world has seen lot cyber attacks and the most well known cyber attack as of late has been Stuxnet virus attack discovered by Russia in 2010. Stuxnet explicitly aimed at Iran’s nuclear facilities and was deliberated to take over computer networks that manage and track physical hardware in these nuclear facilities. Stuxnet was a shock because it was exceptionally advanced and big attack that could perpetrate harm on both the physical as well as digital world. Cyber espionage does not happen in the field of warfare alone. Nations are utilizing cyber devices against one another to take economic and financial information as well. China appears to be more interested in stealing confidential information for economic gain rather than political advantage.  

A good example of latest cyber espionage can be the website of Pakistan’s foreign ministry got hacked post Pulwama Attack. The website was functioning in Pakistan but visitors residing in other countries like Britain, Holland, Saudi Arabia were facing glitches while opening it. There were reports claiming that these cyber attacks could have originated from India. A case of cyber war can be found in the Israeli Air Force attack on Syria in which Trojans were utilized so as to hack the radar system of Syrian Nuclear Facility which permitted the Israeli Air Force to go undetected.  A case of cyber terrorism has been the hacking of CIA facilities suspected of being an attack carried out by the infamous terrorist organization, ISIS.

Recent ban on all the 59 applications of China by India may be a step ahead in preventing the cyber attack by china. China can conduct the operation and can steal the vital information through these apps, which in result would be a breach of privacy as well. Indian Army has also asked its soldiers to permanently delete these apps and remove all its data from those apps.

Famous American poet Eve Merriam once said, “I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, ‘Mother, what was war?” We are not living in such a time today. Although it can be contended that we are free from war today, we are definitely not free of conflict (which as per the researcher’s opinion is the new form of war) and thus we remain far from the idea of peace.


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