COMP 2903A21 – The Evolution of Cyber

WarfareDanny Silver

JSOCS, Acadia University

Greg BrunoBackgrounder: Council on Foreign Relations, Feb 27, 2008

• CFR.org's defense and national security writer• Published by The Washington Post, The New York Times, MSNBC• Received numerous state and national reporting awards for

investigative and spot news• 2008 selected to travel to Turkey as a Gatekeeper Editor by

the International Reporting Project at Johns Hopkins University

• Has recently investigated China's foreign policy

Estonia, spring, 2007• Estonia 1.3 M people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUjrMHFgjE8&feature=related

¾ nationals, ¼ ethnic Russian– Governing body moves monument to Red Army to

outskirts of Tallinn– Ethnic Russians took to the streets in protest

• Days after the riots - a massive “denial of service” attack on Estonia banks, media, gov’t websites –first widely reported cyber attack

• Russian’s claim no involvement• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc0BdYh8_fc• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BG4sJQHW6k

Cyber Warfare

• Isarel, India, Pakistan, US have all been accused of cyber attacks

• China felt to be the most active says US• June, 2007 – Financial Times reports Chinese

hackers broke into Office of Secretary of Defense

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38Xgpl8X-s0&feature=related

But it is complex …

• US companies like Google are playing a role … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDpjjYlVWlo&feature=fvst

US Cyber Warfare on the Offensive

• Details of Washington’s cyber warfare capabilities are not fully known, but it is underway– March, 2004 – Pentagon forms Information Operations

team “Network Attack Support Staff”– Nov, 2007 – NSA and Homeland Security $144M plan to

protect gov’t and civilian networks– Jan, 2008 – Bush signed 2 directives for a national cyber-

security initiative - $6 B budget request

Cyber Warfare Tactics

• “Suter” airborne tech for invading and jamming enemy networks

• Malware, spyware• Botnets• Tactics focus on critical infra structure– What could you do in cyberspace to bring Canada to

it’s knees?

US .vs. Iran

• How to take a nuclear plant … http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5292321985016128434#docid=-7203304217766058329

• And will Iran reciprocate:https://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/16971-Cyber-Attacks-Iran-Will-Retaliate.html

Or Is Cyber war a Gov’t Hoax with a different Agenda

• Civil liberties are under threathttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxeGYa3S5FM&feature=fvsr

• Funded by Fearhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210T_00GnOg&feature=related