Cyberwar http://wiki.ucalgary.ca/page/Courses/Computer_Science/ - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Cyberwar

http://wiki.ucalgary.ca/page/Courses/Computer_Science/ CPSC_601.65.Cyberwar.F2012

What is war?

• State of armed conflict between states or societies.

It is generally characterized by extreme aggression, destruction, and mortality, using regular or irregular military force. —Wikipedia

What is cyberwar?

• An ill-defined topic that cuts across the boundaries

between cyber-espionage, criminal cyber attacks and activity, information security, economic espionage, "traditional" kinetic conflict, and kinetic war with electronic weapons and targeting

• systems. —Mike Locasto
• But is it war?

Estonia

• 2007
• DDoS attack on Estonian organizations
• Defacements of Estonian websites
• Carried out by Russia
• Why? Estonia relocated the Bronze Soldier of

Tallinn

Stuxnet

• Computer worm targeting SCADA systems
• First released as early as 2010
• Built by US/Israeli governments
• Targeted Iranian nuclear facilities

HBGary

• HBGary — a computer security company
• Anonymous
• 2011
• Hacked, emails dumped
• Released bad configurations

Arab Spring

• December 2010
• Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain
• Elevated levels of Internet censorship by

governments

• Egypt, Libya, and Syria turned off the Internet
• Iran — “domestic internet”

Egypt leaving the Internet

https://dyn.com/blog/egypt-leaves-the-internet/

China

• State sponsored cyber espionage
• Steal corporate secrets
• Pledged to stop in 2016
• OPM data breach
• Steal background check information
• Steal fingerprints
• Internet censorship/target dissidents

Hacking Team

• Private company that buys/sells 0 day exploits
• License a Remote Access Trojan
• Client list includes US, Sudan, Ecuador, and many

many more countries

• Used to target opposition party, dissidents,

criminals, and (purportedly) to rig elections https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/04/magazine/cyberwar-for- sale.html

Sony

• November 2014
• Sony Pictures movie “The Interview” — a comedy

about assassinating Kim Jong-un

• Installed a worm on Sony’s system
• Stole data, hijacked twitter accounts

Election Interference

• 2016 US election
• Russia hacked into the DNC and leaked emails
• Spread weaponized information over social media
• more?

Debate

• What can we legitimately call cyberwar activity?
• Is it cyberwar even if nobody dies as a result?
• What is a cyberweapon?
• Cyberwar is a significant threat.
• Cyberwar is likely in the near future.

Debates

• Hacker tools are cyberweapons and should be

licensed or banned.

• People should be able to shed their name/

citizenship when participating online.

• Cyberwar can be effectively regulated through

multilateral treaties.