Monthly Archives: September 2013

VIDEO: Dr. M.V. “Coyote” Smith on Cyber Warfare

Welcome to the Age of Space and Cyber Warfare: Dr. M.V. “Coyote” Smith - American Center for Democracy

Box Quote Mark

What we think of today as cyber warfare has really evolved out of space warfare. As personal computers, the Internet, and the various means of connecting them became prolific on Earth in recent years, the various warfare techniques used in space-and other terrestrial forms of electronic warfare–migrated to cyber. We are all very familiar with examples of cyber warfare. Examples include the Russian use of cyber warfare against Georgia in their recent conflict to essentially put down Georgian information networks, their command and control systems, along with the Internet and most everything connected to it. What makes this example particularly interesting was how the Russians went about it. They simply encouraged private hactivists to engage Georgian cyber systems. It was a free-for-all. This resulted in a very effective removal of Georgia from the grid, with very little Russian investment in this success.

Cyber warfare is clear in our minds, but the Russian example points to another interesting phenomenon that we are seeing in space and cyber warfare. We find ourselves living in the age of the super-empowered individual. Space and cyber capabilities that only nation-states possessed even as late as a few years ago now reside within the grasp of anyone with access to the internet-for intelligence, operational command-and-control, and execution of various cyber techniques that can destroy, degrade, deny, disrupt, or deceive targeted equipment and the services they provide.

In summary, we have been living in the age of space and cyber warfare for a number of decades now. There is no negotiating our way out, and no treaties that can be made to stop it. In fact, in most cases space and cyber warfare is employed in lieu of using lethal and destructive force against people and property.

In an age where super-empowered individuals and groups cannot be deterred, the only way forward is to invest in space and cyber defenses and plan to operate through whatever interference they cause. Eliminating critical dependencies on space and cyber is essential, as well as creating robust terrestrial back-ups for both mediums. We can already glimpse with some discomfort where technology is taking us, but we can begin now to prepare for the emerging realities.

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VIDEO: Steven Chabinsky on Cyber Survival

Cyber Survival: Why We’re Losing and What’s Needed to Win. Steven Chabinsky speaks at the American Center for Democracy.

Box Quote MarkAnd so, when I hear people talk about a cyber 9/11, or a cyber Pearl Harbor, I’m quite dismissive of those as being appropriate analogies. Instead, what I believe is that we very much might face the equivalent of a cyber Katrina. Where we don’t have resources, we don’t have potable water, we don’t have electricity. What we have are all of the cascading harms that are reflected in Bill Fortschen’s writings, which are every bit or more as devastating as planes with bombs or planes as bombs. These effects are real possibilities, and nations recognize it. Only a couple of years ago, the China Youth Daily featured an article expressing, “Just as nuclear warfare was the strategic war of the industrial era, cyber-warfare has become the strategic war of the information era, and this has become a form of battle that is massively destructive and concerns the life and death of nations.”

Non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse is certainly an emerging threat against availability and, as a result, an emerging risk to our very way of life. I greatly appreciate the efforts of the American Center for Democracy in bringing thought leadership and emphasis to this important topic. Of more immediate concern, however, may be EMP’s baby brother, “purposeful interference,” more commonly known as jamming. We already are seeing people with $25 illegal jammers interfere with the electromagnetic spectrum, most commonly focused on impeding mobile communications. Think about a situation that requires emergency responders to talk with each other, perhaps an active shooter scenario, hindered through purposeful interference.

 

Steven Chabinsky

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VIDEO: Energy, Cyber, EMP Threats - Ambassador R. James Woolsey

Energy, Cyber, EMP Threats - Ambassador R. James Woolsey - American Center for Democracy

Box Quote MarkIt is insidious because if you look at the vulnerability from intentionally-caused EMP, it’s a much simpler task than designing and developing and testing and targeting an ICBM or an SLBM that can hit a target on the ground. If all you have to do is get 30 clicks or more up into space and get in some rough orbit and get over some portion of the United States and detonate — either salvage-fused if somebody shoots something at you, or just detonate — you could have a massive effect without being accurate at all, and even try a shot around the South Pole, and if that doesn’t work, don’t say anything and go try another one later. There are just a number of vulnerabilities that stem from the nature of electromagnetic pulse that people really are so appalled by they often don’t want to deal with the matter at all.

And in some ways, this is our biggest problem. That some of the difficulties that we face, here, in particular the takedown — the comparatively easy takedown — of major portions of (or even, in some circumstances, all of) the North America electrical grid creates a situation where people just say: “This is just too hard, this is just too massive, it’s too scary, I’m going to go do something else.” Part of what we need to do is make sure people understand that in a lot of circumstances, we’re talking about the massive expenditure of roughly 20 cents per electricity consumer per year on some of the important types of steps that can usefully be taken. So part of what we need to do is understand the way one can utilize technology in a very affordable way to make a real difference in our vulnerabilities to cyber and related threats.

 

R. James Woolsey

R. James Woolsey

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