Everything you wanted to know about cyber wars

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It used to be easy to know when a war had started or ended – it was enough to observe the existence of armed conflicts, exchange of shots, movements of battalions and military vehicles. With technology increasingly present in our lives, however, these long-range global conflicts have become quiet and subtle, being difficult for an ordinary citizen to follow them in real time. It is the era of cyber wars.

Battling in the digital realm, although it may seem like a sci-fi movie, is already a reality and brings a number of benefits to the nations involved compared to physical combat. First, it’s a much cheaper way of waging war, since most of the costs are concentrated on recruiting specialized “professionals”, and not on the manufacture / purchase of military items.

Furthermore, a cyber conflict can cause severe damage to a country’s critical infrastructure, disrupting its economy and directly affecting the quality of life of its citizens. We are talking about interruptions in electricity supply and telecommunications services, for example; in certain cases, the danger is even physical, such as the compromise of the systems that control the plants of a nuclear plant.

Silent but deadly

As if that were not enough, the growth of technology makes cyber warfare making it much easier to spy on a neighboring nation, since classified documents and intellectual property – whether those files from government agencies or large private companies – are already stored digitally by default. That’s why companies also need to be aware to such military movements in the virtual field and to protect their information against state agents.

As we said earlier, cyber wars may seem like science fiction, but it is already a reality – there are several episodes recorded over the past ten years that can be considered political conflicts. We can highlight, for example, the blackout suffered by Ukraine in 2015, after hackers used malware to control the management systems of the country’s three largest electricity distributors.

More recently, a espionage attempt against the World Health Organization (WHO) by the elite hacking group DarkHotel. They targeted research on the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) by releasing a faithful copy of the email system used by the entity’s employees.

Fortunately, the institution’s security officer quickly realized the social engineering trap and no one fell for it. It just shows that contemporary crises have become a motto – and weapons – for those on the digital front of such cyber conflicts.

If you want to know more about the subject and check a timeline with the main “attacks” recorded in virtual wars, be sure to check out this free ebook designed by Compugraf in partnership with Check Point. In addition to conceptualizing the term, he explains the crimes, quotes the parties involved, lists the losses and clarifies the relationship between wars and his company. Don’t miss out!