The Hacking Wars

The Worldwide Threat Assessment is released annually by the US Intelligence Committee. It's goal is to outline the biggest dangers that the world faces. In 2011 cybersecurity was among the low-rank threats. Only 2 years later, in 2013 it rose to the number 1 threat and has since stayed at this spot.

Through the years there have been many large cyber-attacks that caused the threat of cybersecurity to rise to prominence. In our world today, nations have entire cybersecurity teams whose sole purpose is to provide protection from cyber-attacks. How did we get here?

Stuxnet

In 2010, a worm called Stuxnet began to target Windows computers running a certain software called SCADA. SCADA stands for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition. It's primary use is to control power grids. 

This worm made its way through USB drives from infected computers into a highly secure Iranian Uranium enrichment facility. This caused multiple failures of centrifuges, which was met with great panic at the Uranium plant. Stuxnet significantly hinders processes at this facility. Eventually, 5 months later a company was contracted to investigate the crashes and failures, eventually leading to the discovery of the worm.

Saudi Aramco

In 2012, the world's biggest hack took place. Saudi Aramco, who controls 10% of the world’s oil was hacked. Their data was comprised, processes interrupted and the only clue left by the hackers was a burning American flag. In hours, the worlds most profitable company was thrown back into the stone ages. 

Trucks were refused from loading because there was no system to pay. The company had to resort to using paper and pen. It was as if they were suddenly thrown back in the 1970s. After 17 days the company began giving away oil to keep the economy intact. Saudi Aramco employees began rapidly ripping out the cables for all computers and hired an army of IT professionals to fix the issue. After 5 long months, they were up and running. This time with much higher cybersecurity protection. The hackers have never been identified or caught.

Democratic Party Emails

In the midst of the election in 2016, a ton of emails from the democratic party were released to the public through WikiLeaks, DC leaks as well as other sources. These hacks were reportedly done by a party known as Fancy Bear which is said to be related to Russia. 

The hackers used a technique called spearfishing which is an email technique used to target and steal information from specific users. This hack caused the leader of the democratic party to resign and many analysts state that it may have affected the election result. 

Conclusion

In the past, if a nation wanted to obtain information or to sabotage another nation, the options were war, double agents, or a corrupt network of people in the targeted nation. Now all you need is a laptop and an internet connection. On the flip side, hacking events may lead to a higher level of digital security. Unfortunately, these crimes will never go away as with any crime, but counter efforts will only get better.