China: CyberWars On The Electronic Horizon

Jordan Robertson of the Associated Press wrote a great piece on future cyberwars and present modern day attacks:

SAN FRANCISCO — The Chinese government today disputed a report labeling it the world's most aggressive offender in probing for holes in other nations' Internet security and encouraging a looming global cyber showdown.

The report, issued today by Santa Clara-based security software vendor McAfee Inc., said government-affiliated hackers in China are at the forefront of a brewing "cyber Cold War" still in its infancy. [1]

Cyber Wars are predicted to happen in the future. This report is chilling, the cyberworld is under attack now.

Based on McAfee research and input from security experts with NATO, the FBI and other intelligence outfits, the report said hackers in China are believed responsible for four out of five major cyber attacks on government targets in 2007.

The biggest intrusions appear to have targeted a Pentagon computer network and government agencies in Germany, India, Australia and New Zealand. [1]

Attacks on critical national infrastructure rose in 2007. These included "financial markets, utilities and air traffic control machinery, and the attacks were believed to have been launched by governments or government-allied groups."

Governments and infrastructure are not the only targets.

The McAfee report also detailed the growing threat to Web surfers from increasingly sophisticated techniques to steal personal information online and install malicious code on victims' computers to herd them into networks of compromised machines that pump out spam or fire off attacks.[1]

It was revealed that the September 9 strike by Israel on a "nuclear" site in Syria was the first major use of a "electronic" warfare strike.

Elements of the attack included some brute-force jamming, which is still an important element of attacking air defenses, U.S. analysts say. Also, Syrian air defenses are still centralized and dependent on dedicated HF and VHF communications, which made them vulnerable. The analysts don’t believe any part of Syria’s electrical grid was shut down. They do contend that network penetration involved both remote air-to-ground electronic attack and penetration through computer-to-computer links.

“There also were some higher-level, nontactical penetrations, either direct or as diversions and spoofs, of the Syrian command-and-control capability, done through network attack,” says an intelligence specialist.[2]

The Cold War is over, the Cyber Wars have just begun.

By LBG
Source - [1] Houston Chronicle
Source - 2 - The September 9th Attack On Syria
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