When we move from the analog to the digital world, the state of crime changes. The usage of firearms and other lethal weapons has decreased dramatically. Individuals are now using technology-based strategies to cause conflict and conduct crimes, a situation known as cyber warfare. The use of internet-based tactics to cause disputes and corruption in computer databases and other computer systems without the permission of the information owner is referred to as cyber warfare. It is established that cyber warfare can disrupt or disable networks, corrupt stored data, hack financial systems, disable websites and perform many other possible harmful tasks on computer-based systems. It is known that virtually all military forces in whichever country uses secure channels to communicate, these channels are linked via the internet, which is now known to be insecure. It raises concerns not only to individuals, firms, and corporations but also to the Governments at large. The following are some of the key aspects revolving around cyber warfare.
Future of Wars
It is postulated that the future wars will not be worn by those countries or nations having many and large atomic bombs, superior troops and large territories. The winners will be those nations holding more information (bits) about other nations and countries. The countries that direct their resources and energies in maintaining and improving their nuclear arsenals are said to be the biggest losers in the coming wars. The reason given to support this is that a cheaply modified cyber weapon can neutralize the nuclear arsenal rendering it useless in the battlefields. A computer virus is given as an example of a cyber-weapon in this scenario.
The determinant of an army power in this era is coined to the security of military information and communications including their methods of data collection and processing. From the history, we get to know that the allies, during world war two broke the codes of Germans and Japanese gaining an advantage in the battle over them. Having the correct information about the tactics, an enemy will or are using will enable their opponents to revisit their strategies and modify them in a way that they will have an advantage over their enemy. Disabling military networks means that communication between enemy troops will fail; this may bring about miss coordination resulting in their failures.
Ethics of Cyber Warfare
Several unique features characterize cyber warfare. Unlike the previous (traditional) warfare that utilized weapons such as nuclear bombs and missiles, cyber warfare fails to have open discussions regarding its usage. In nuclear weapons, for instance, there is the policy, which limits the number of weapons a country should develop or hold. Since cyber-attacks poses similar threats as those of traditional warfare, there is a need for the development of policies to govern the extent a country, an individual or a firm should advance in terms of cyber weapons. It would bring ethics in cyber warfare, as it is the case with nuclear weapons; they are not used indiscriminately.
In many instances, cyber warfare will result in zero deaths unlike the former form of war. Damages to the environments as is the case with atomic arsenals is also kept at minimal. The only thing that worsens the warfare is that anyone with specialized skills and knowledge in information technology (IT) has the potential to become a combatant. The war does not require exotic resources such as guns and tanks; all that one requires are skills, a computer, and an internet connection. It is therefore difficult to develop rules that would restrict the use of cyber weapons in the fight against cybercrimes. Lastly, it is tough to track the origin of cybercrime. Cyber attackers can therefore easily deny the charges of having committed the crime. Firms, institutions, and countries can live in a blame game as no one is willing to take responsibility for having committed the offense; there lacks evidence.
Defensive Preparations on the United States to Counter Cyber-Attacks
The United States government has prioritized cyber security as it considers it one of the major challenges when it comes to economic growth and the overall national security. The previous United States presidents developed strategies to help cab the insecurities brought about by cyber-attacks. The former president George W. Bush drawn up and launched an initiative called "Comprehensive National Cyber Security Initiative." Its primary roles were to ensure defense in the entire scope of today's immediate internal and external threats and to establish a secure future environment in cyber security.
Defensively, the government is continually laying down measures to counter attack and bring to an end cyber-attack. Some of these actions include the training of its forces on risks posed by information technology, giving guidelines on how a cyber-warfare is conducted and finally, creating and strengthening its cyber policies. Other defensive strategies used by the United States Government include the attachment of CI assets to all area cyber centers and the development of Department of Defense (DoD) cyber strategy, whose primary aim is to set goals that guide the establishment of cyber military force.
What is Next?
If we have to project into the future possible occurrences, we need to first look at what is happening in the cyberspace today, and the indicators it sends to us. The current trend shows that there is an upsurge in cyber-attack almost everywhere in the world. These attacks range from international attacks to personal and institutional attacks (non-state attacks). Through these cyber-attacks, billions of nations, corporates and institutions money is reported to have gone missing.
These firms, including the governments, have now seen the need to invest their time and finances to counter this threat. It is however known that the offensive capacities develop faster than defensive capabilities. It thus requires close surveying and analysis by all nations to develop in time defensive measures, make adjustments in the current training of combatant, and finally develop policies to guide national cyber warfare.
Conclusion
To conclude, technology is very vital both for personal and national development; this makes technology indispensable in every society. Technology, on the other hand, poses a significant threat to the entire world. It is the way we use technology, which determines whether we are going to benefit from it, or not. Cyber warfare has brought about security concerns in almost every country regardless of its readiness to counter such incidents. Cyber warfare has come to destroy whatever good technology brought with it. The benefits of safe storage and analysis of data in computer systems is no longer an advantage we can boast about. We therefore require the development of a major and an effective strategy in the fight against cyber warfare. Failure to do it, our former method of data storage, processing, communication would be more convenient in this scenario.
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