Concept in Definition ABC

Who else, who less, we have all seen movies in which there is a confrontation in cyberspace, what we call cyberwar. But could we define it beyond celluloid, in the real world?

Cyberwar is that unarmed confrontation that is settled through exclusively technological channels, computers or other electronic systems connected in a network. Currently, it is understood that it takes place over the Internet.

It is, therefore, a confrontation in beginning bloodless, in which the casualties are the enemy's data and systems, although depending on the actions carried out, it is possible to cause fatalities.

So, for example, it would be feasible control a nuclear power plant country enemy and force their reactors until causing an explosion, with the consequent number of casualties.

Cyberwar can be part of a conventional war, or be a separate conflict and not explicitly linked to an armed confrontation. Can we talk about a cyberwar? Probably not.

At least not open, although there have been incidents that can be described as halfway between an act of cyberwar and cyber espionage.

It is the case of worm 2010 Stuxnet computer program, designed to attack a specific type of centrifuge for production of enriched uranium that Iran possessed and, in this way, sabotage its possible production of fissile material for atomic bombs.

It is considered that said malware was created by some US government agency as a form of cyber warfare to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, but either this has not been proven, or it has not been wanted to prove, or it has not been accepted publicly.

Another case had happened in 2007 with attacks by Russian hackers against Estonian network infrastructures. Theoretically, these hackers acted on their own, but there is a current of opinion majority that links them with the Kremlin, although to date nothing has been unanimously accepted in this regard.

The targets of cyberwar are both military systems and major civilian facilities that are connected to the same network as that of the attacker. This network is, today, the Internet.

There are also other ways of attacking infrastructures totally or partially disconnected from the network of networks, for example, by introducing computer pathogens on physical media such as pendrives.

An experiment conducted near sensitive facilities shows that most employees are prone to connecting a pendrive that have been found on the floor of the car park to the high security systems to view their contents.

Among the infrastructures that can become the target of a cyber attack we have, among others, enemy army bases and command systems such as those used by land, air, or sea forces, communications, or supply energetic.

We must not confuse cyberwar with electronic warfare.

The latter is the one practiced on the battlefield conventional and as part of a armed conflict conventional, to cause a disruption in the electronic systems that incorporate and use the vehicles and soldiers that are part of modern armies, with the aim of interrupting their communications and leaving them without the possibility of using advanced aid systems.

We can also define, in a certain way, as acts of cyberwar, attacks by private groups, such as Anonymous, who they are not part of the policy of a state or government, but they carry out attacks similar to how a army.

In this sense, cyberwar can be carried out by private entities that have the resources and the motivation.

Fotolia photos: Visions-AD / Alexey Bannykh

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