Cyber Warfare: A Psychological Strategy More Than Technical Prowess

In simple terms, cyber warfare is the use of hacking techniques by military forces to target a foreign country’s key systems. It can be used to steal or alter information or to disable the essential infrastructure of the target country. Now, a layman would think, I don’t have any access to the military data or confidential information of national importance. Why do I have to think about cyberwarfare? The simple answer is that the tools used by the military can easily end up in the hands of ordinary cybercriminals.

Cyber Warfare attacks can disable financial and organizational systems. They can access, transmit and alter classified data to sabotage networks, websites and services. It is a wide arena that includes everything from highly targeted phishing attacks to distributed denial of service, also called DDOS, to hacking and seizing real-time control of key systems as happened in the case of Stuxnet. It is only a matter of time before more methods and tools are employed by cybercriminals.

One of the main weapons used in these wars is social media. Nowadays, social media can manipulate, influence and persuade societies and has a significant impact on world affairs. Social media is a progressing new feature of democracy in which each person has a voice to share viewpoints and ideas on politically unbiased platforms. 

The mistake made here is in the assumption that social media is neutral. However, people continue to think that these platforms are unbiased for sharing experiences and making money through advertising. The fact is that the media is about expediency and not efficiency. With this rapid growth of technology, governments need to respond accordingly for political governance as they will have to face massive challenges in protecting democracy. However, politics is not the only domain being affected by technology. Almost all the spheres of society now face cyber-related issues.

Under all, this is a vacuum of power where non-actors, individuals and private organisations have the advantage over slow, outdated, military and intelligence agencies. This is because in the digital age of conflict there exists a feedback loop where new technologies and platforms can be adapted, learned and deployed by individuals and organizations faster than governments can react.

If it is so widespread and so convenient, then how can I protect my data from these cybercriminals? There are some ways to protect your information on the devices-:

• Be vigilant.

• Only check emails that are genuine.

• Do not open documents or links without ensuring that they are legitimate.

• In case of using USB memory sticks, Keep them secure at all times.

Moreover, this field is expanding and the need for cyber knowledge is increasing exponentially. Cyber threats of tomorrow, just don’t make our information unsafe but can even make our physical world unsafe as well. We have to keep in mind that we are the first line of defence when it comes to protecting an organization's systems and valuable data. 

By: Parishti Kaushik

(Legal Intern, WCSF)

To stay updated, please visit our official website: https://www.worldcybersecurities.com/