Author: sarabenabdelouahab

This blog follows a thematic presentation of the developments and occurrences of cyberwarfare. Cyberwarfare, is a hybrid form of warfare that is conducted in the cyberspace. In the Global risks report 2019, cyberattacks were ranked as the 5thglobal risk of our time, with easy accessibility and granted the easy proliferation of low- cost cyber weapons, […]

https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/ai-and-cybersecurity-concerns.html This last article (which was purposefully chosen to end this blog on a positive note), details how AI is increasingly being used for strengthening cyber attacks, but also how AI may be just the solution that companies, governments, and the society need to espouse a sentiment of security.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/quest-diagnostics-discloses-breach-of-patient-records/2019/06/03/aa37b556-860a-11e9-a870-b9c411dc4312_story.html This case study is significant to note for two reasons: first, the nature of the attack: A hacker targeted an American medical testing Giant: personal data was breached and stolen and more than 11.9 million customers were affected by this attack. Second: (which I find most curious): The breach dates back to August 1st, […]

https://www.wired.com/story/notpetya-cyberattack-ukraine-russia-code-crashed-the-world/ It is naive to write a blog without mentioning NotPetya, like Stuxnet, it is one of the world’s most serious cyber incidents. This article gives an overview of NotPetya: On June 2017, NotPetya has targeted the infrastructure and infected networks from all over the world: the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia and […]

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/the-digital-battleground-of-cyberwarfare/ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/28/cyberwar-age-citizens-need-to-have-a-say These two articles, one an opinion piece and the other more informative, detail the effects of cyberattacks on communities in general, as well as how citizens have become collateral damage to cyber attacks, that may be conducted by states or non-state actors. The second article, gives an overview of cyberwarfare attacks by targets […]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/05/06/israeli-military-strikes-and-destroys-hamas-cyber-hq-in-world-first/#7a937d14afb5 This article is a curious one as it narrates the first known example of a state responding to a cyber attack by launching missiles: this left the world in awe (and myself included, but not so much, it’s apartheid Israel) The first strike was a cyber attack launched by Hamas, and Israel responds through […]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/16/us-and-uk-blame-russia-for-malicious-cyber-offensive This article by the Guardian dates to last year, however it showcases the political, and security risks intertwined with ongoing cyber attacks from a state. Meanwhile the US and the UK, like Russia, are equipped with cyber-offensive tools, Russia continuously targets network infrastructure devices

https://www.itpro.co.uk/cyber-warfare/33958/are-we-in-the-midst-of-a-cyber-war https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/06/24/102937/the-us-has-launched-a-cyber-attack-against-irans-weapons-systems/ These two articles further expose the blurring lines between digital and physical harm that cyber attacks may cause. U.S. president Donald Trump is increasingly deploying these “attractive” tools to advance US political agenda. The cyberattack was aimed at computer-controlled weapons, the hack was successful and disabled Iranian computer systems that were used for […]

This article by the New York Times, exposes the recent cyber attack by the US against Moscow. With Moscow continuously targeting American apparatus to gain leverage and power in the International Arena, the US is stepping up its cyber tools at inflicting damage to Russia’s infrastructure. This action was conducted as a “warning” to Russian […]

https://www.itpro.co.uk/malware/25804/ukrainian-power-grid-downed-by-cyber-attack This article explains the evolution of most significant cyber attack Ukraine has ever witnessed: its power grid was targeted using a malware system known as “BlackEnergy”. This case is significant to discuss as it exposes how the dangers by cyber attacks may expand to inflicting physical damage to vital infrastructure. Cyberwarfare, after all, may […]

Lybia, currently a worn-torn country, is facing the added burden of increased cyberattacks and a target to hacking. In last August 2019, the Government of National Accord (GNA)’s official twitter account was hacked. Another significant cyber attack was conducted by a hacker that targeted LAAF. The hacker seized and published private information on government officials […]

https://www.csis.org/programs/technology-policy-program/significant-cyber-incidents To get a handle on the scale of the problem, this report from CSIS presents the most significant cyberattacks dating back to 2006. It exhibits the range of actors: governments (U.S., Israel, North Korea, Russia, Iran as the most active in cyber incidents. hacker groups are also significant actors in the arena.

https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-hybrid-warfare-and-what-is-meant-by-the-grey-zone-118841 https://www.economist.com/briefing/2010/07/01/war-in-the-fifth-domain I chose these 3 articles as introduction to explain what cyberwar fare means. Informed by these three articles, cyberwarfare, is a hybrid form of warfare and considered as the fifth domain of warfare: After land, sea air, and space, the internet is the most recent domain to conducting warfare. The internet was designed […]