Alex Higgins Blog

In the 20th century we witnessed armed conflicts that where initiated with massive air raids.  These raids where often launched in stealth during the the quiet hours before dawn and focused on taking out key elements of the enemy infrastructure, such as their ability to communicate.  We even witnessed the surrender of Bosnia through the use of air power alone.

We are now almost a decade into the 21st century and Russia has set the stage for a new era of war, The Age of Cyberwarfare. In the weeks leading up to the invasion of Georgia, Russia engaged in the first Cyberwarfare offensive in history.  During that time Russain Hackers crippled several Georgian Government Web sites and took the entire Georgian Nation Bank offline.

Many other Georgian Web sites where also defaced, rerouted or taken offline completely.  While the source of the attacks have been attributed to the Russian Military,  the Russian government officially denies these allegations.  However, several security researchers maintain the attacks where launched from servers based in both Russia and Turkey.

The Georgian President’s Web site was another target of the Cyberattack.  After being taken offline completely, the Web site was relocated to a host in Atlanta, USA . Other Georgian Web sites, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Defense, have been crippled by the Russain Cyberoffensive.  The Russains have severly crippled the Georgian Government’s ability to disburse information by the internet.  The Georgian National Bank is also reported to be another casualty of the offensive.

Dave Marcus, manager of McAffee’s Security and Communications divisions, stated that the attacks where “a natural evolution in warfare, it’s just a reflection of modern times.”  So what does this mean for the new millenium?  Instead of a country being placed under seige by bombs,  an invading country could possibly deny a country of its internet access until its citizens demand the government surrenders.

That may seem a little far fetched, but it really isn’t.  Many modern economies are tied directly to internet. The 8th World Congress projects that worldwide E-commerce spending will hit $8.75 trillion dollars and online B2B will account for another $7.6 trillion by 2009.  The sudden disappearance of the internet would not only have grave consequences for online business, but for many brick and mortar business that rely on the Internet as part of their daily business processes.  The consequences would trickle down to every business including your average “mom and pop” shop.

As the internet becomes a more integral part of economies and businesses around the world, it is only a matter of time before it is considered a primary military target during times of conflict.  In the last century, telecommunications like the TV and telephone where usually the first targets hit.  As those technologies are replaced by into IPTV and VOIP, datacenters and routers on the internet backbone will become first strike objectives.

What do you think? Have we entered a “New Age of Cyberwarfare”?  Will tommorow’s special forces be trained in the art of hacking the enemy network instead hand to hand combat and building demolition?  If an attacking country took out your internet service, how long could you survive before you join the protest for your government to surrender?

See Also:

Commnetary - The Age of Cyber Warfare
Russia Cripples Estonia With Cyberwarfare