Cyber War essays

Cyber War essays Consider the following scenario set some time in the near future: A Middle East state decides the time is ripe for a power grab in the Persian Gulf and directs its threat to an oil-rich neighbor that the United States is pledged to protect. The aggressors elect not to challenge America in a head-on military confrontation. Instead they prepare a more insidious assault. In the United States and abroad among U.S. allies, a pattern of computer mayhem begins to emerge in a cascading sequence of events. Actually, the war has already begun but no one in the United States yet realizes it; logic bombs and computer viruses don't make much noise. A three-hour power blackout in a Middle Eastern city has no reasonable explanation, misrouted freight and passenger trains collide, killing and injuring many passengers; malfunctions of computerized flow-control mechanisms trigger oil refinery explosions and fires, electronic "sniffers" sabotage the global financial system by disrupting international fund-transfer networks, causing stocks to plunge on the New York and London exchanges. Television stations in the Middle East lose control of their programming and a misinformation campaign of unknown orchestration sows widespread confusion. Computerized dial-in attacks paralyze the phone systems at bases where U.S. troops are scheduled to begin deployment; computers at U.S. military bases around the world are strickenslowing down, disconnecting, crashing. More ominous, some of the military's most sophisticated computer-controlled weapon systems are exhibiting flickering screens and other signs of electronic malaise. Even though U.S. intelligence indicates hostile military intent by the aggressor, there is still no solid information on who is behind the events that have undermined the country's ability to respond to the threats. The reluctant conclusion is that unknown elements have launched a Cyber War Attack against the United States. This re...