Is Internet the New Battlefield for Warfare?

In the context of the Paris attacks, couple days back I wrote a blog discussing how terrorists communicate and transact over the Internet. Today's blog looks into the issue of the Internet as the new battlefield for cyber terrorism and warfare.

The infamous anti-establishment hacktivist collective known as Anonymous are notorious for standing up against corporate crime and greed. Publicly shaming politicians, banks, large corporations or even unmasking members of the Ku Klux Klan has seen the underground group receive a cult following.

The collective that sport sinister looking Guy Fawkes masks that were made famous by the V for Vendetta movie appear to be rapidly becoming a digital channel for the social conscience of the world. Maybe, we shouldn't be too surprised that the group announced on Monday that they would use their expertise to wage “war” on the militant group that goes by name(s) Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL, or by its Arabic acronym Daesh. 

Some might even say that Anonymous is commendable in this instance for taking a break from its day job in order to concentrate on fighting terrorism. What is interesting is that despite their declaration, the World didn't seem to take them too seriously. Maybe because the World still doesn't believe that the Internet has now become the new battlefield for terrorism and war. Within 24 hours of the controversial announcement Anonymous revealed that over 5,500 Twitter accounts associated with the terrorist group had been taken down.

In an interesting state of events, ISIS has responded by calling Anonymous ‘Idiots’ and offered instructions on how to safeguard their members from online hack attacks. The leaking of alleged terrorist members’ personal information online illustrates perfectly how the weapons of war are changing in this digital age.

It has been widely reported how ISIS have been utilizing technology and social media to coordinate and recruit supporters from across the globe, so there is a strong argument that shutting down their online communication channels could significantly diminish their chances of producing more terror and everyone working together to prevent terrorism can only be a good thing right? 

Authorities however would argue that uncoordinated vigilante style justice could actually be counterproductive and potentially jeopardize investigations or prevent arrests that would ultimately go on to benefit the terrorists.

One could be forgiven for thinking “hackers fight terrorists” to be like a terrible late night TV show, but these recent stream of events do offer an illuminating insight into modern society and the rise of precarious cyber war games.

Our biggest vulnerabilities are our increasingly heavy dependence on electricity and Internet connectivity such that if either of these were attacked or taken down, it could prove incapacitating. We have somehow rushed into the always online world a little naively and are only just starting to realize that our air traffic control, hospitals, banks or even our cars and traffic management systems are all potential targets. No seriously, think about it for a moment!

When asked what an ISIS cyber attack might look like, BitDefender’s Chief Security Strategist, Alexandru Catalin Cosoi warned of the devastating consequences of such an attack for businesses and infrastructure. 

“A possible worst-case scenario is the crippling of all communication and critical infrastructures, ranging from mobile phone to water supply, electricity, and gas”

A chronic shortage of cyber skills is another wake-up call that will need to be addressed to protect the infrastructure that we take for granted from its current vulnerabilities. To that extent one commends the British Government where UK Chancellor George Osborne is set to announce a new national cyber center to address such issues.

Skeptics will suggest that fear makes the wolf look bigger and that politicians will use this fear to introduce intrusive new measures to spy on the public. What is truly fascinating is how the importance of nuclear weapons as a key security tool appears to be taking a back seat as if to remind us that although still relevant to the current state of the World, they have likely been upstaged by Cyber Warfare as a more potent form of battle.

There needs to be a much stronger emphasis on online security to protect us from cyber attacks that clearly have the power to cripple our civil and economic infrastructure and cause immense loss of commerce, trade and life itself in a very different kind of war than what we may have ever experienced before.

2015 will be remembered as the year that online security appeared on everyone's roadmap after nearly every major company we can think of suffered a hacking of some description. The concept of our own technology being used against us has been overlooked for way too long and seems to have become our blind spot.

With more and more countries looking at the potential of cyber weapons and the methods of protecting ourselves from them, it’s clear that the definition of a threat to national security and the weapons that will be used against us has changed completely. I only hope that we get our heads out of the sand, get our act together and get going on Cyber Security sooner rather than later.

If you liked reading this blog then you might also like to read my blog from couple days back that discusses how terrorists communicate and transact over the Internet.

Thank you for reading. If my daily LinkedIn business blogs help you and you'd like to nominate me for the LinkedIN Top Voices List then please fill out this short form.