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Ms. Garcia
20 April 2015
Research Paper
Has Modern Technology Created a New Type of Monster?
According to analysts, “It was reported that 794 million people were online worldwide in 2009.”
(Osuagwu, 21) This statistic was compiled over six years ago; today the majority of the population is online at some point in their day. This opens the door for cyber attacks from anywhere in the world. Due to
the new information available in the field of cyberspace, we know more about the types of attacks that are
occurring on a daily basis. Cyber terrorism seems to occur in a make-believe world, a place where people
cannot travel to and visit; but does it have real life consequences for everyone?
There are four main types of attacks that are used: viruses, worms, Trojans, and spyware. An
article in the Journal of Mathematics and Technology describes the nature of these attacks.
“Viruses infect computers or other electronic devices and are passed on by user activity, for
example by opening an email attachment. Worms, self-propagate using an Internet connection to
access vulnerabilities on other computers and install copies of themselves. Trojans are malware
(Malicious software types) masquerading as something the user may want to download or install,
that may then preform hidden or unexpected actions, such as allowing external access to the
computer. Spyware transmits information gathered from a computer, such as bank details, back to
an attacker.” (Osuagwu, 22)
These are the types of attacks that venture into the real world and cause real damage to victims. People
getting attacked by these viruses and Trojan horses will have to deal with the after math which could
include fraud, theft, identity theft, and even death in some very rare situations.
The biggest motivation for the majority of the attacks that occur in the world is money. This
leaves one to wonder: where does this money come from and where does it go? How do these attackers
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penetrate firewalls and other securities to gather this information? How are these attacks being policed?
And are these attacks a serious threat to the real world, or only what is in cyberspace?
Cyber terrorism is the new security threat that countries around the world have to deal with.
Before the worry was about someone blowing something up with a bomb, but now terrorist attacks can be
someone shutting down the power to a major city and causing chaos. The President of the United States
has said that the country’s biggest threat in today’s world is the possibility of cyber terrorist attacks.
President Obama’s thought were summarized by Harress in his article in the International Business
Times, “Cyber security has become a U.S. government priority in the past year, after a string of denial of
service (DOS) attacks on government computers and hacking attempts of the CIA’s main computer, as
well as on French, Israeli and British defense agencies. But while many of these sophisticated cyber
attacks have sought to inconvenience governmental agencies that have little impact on day-to-day public
life, many in the government are increasingly worried about an attack on the energy sector.”(Harress, 1)
As technology continues to advance these attacks are going to continue to become more complex
and it will be harder to protect information. If attacks are going to keep getting more complex, security
systems need to do the same. Recently, malware called “The Mask” was discovered by Kaspersky Lab is
said to be the most complex attack that they have ever seen. Since 2007, “The Mask” has taken over
thousands of IP addresses in a dozen different countries. What does this mean for every day people and
businesses that don’t have the money and ability to be protected by government level software? In the
Journal Deploying Forensics Science and Technology for resolving National Security Challenges, Dr.
Samuel Okide wrote that the hardest thing to do with these cyber attacks is policing them.
“Some of the bigger problems that are faced when tracking and policing cyber crimes is; the international
nature of cyber crimes makes jurisdiction difficult to establish, data can be stored on a range of devices
and in large volume that require time and expertise to access. And lastly computer crime training has been
made available to all officers, but uptake has been low. This may result in potential evidence of computer
crimes being lost.” (23)
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When looking at motivations for these attacks money is almost always involved. In January 2007,
“Hackers accessed the computer systems at the TJX companies (the parents company of retailers such as
TJ Maxx and Marshalls). These hackers were able to steal approximately 45.7 million credit and debit
card numbers. The TJX Companies believe that unauthorized software placed on its computer system was
the cause of the breach.” (Okide, 24) This is just a small example of the thousands of attacks in
cyberspace. Cyber attacks can be much more common than bombings because anyone can hack into
anything, from anywhere in the world. Although it only takes one person to commit a cyber attack, these
hackers usually join a group. This way they can try and save themselves if they get caught, but more
importantly they have more man and computer power making them a more serious threat.
There was a hacking group called “The Lizard Squad” which hacked into entertainment systems
such as Play Station, Xbox, and Sony causing system malfunctions and shutting down servers for long
periods of time. The squad made a name for themselves by launching a major attack on Christmas Day
last year. Social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Tinder which all have suffered serious
attacks and shut downs have pointed blame towards the hacker group. A hacker who called himself
Member Two from the Lizard Squad commented on the matter to a BBC Radio Five Live reporter:
“Because we can…its just such a huge company Microsoft… do you not think they should be able to
prevent such an attack? Is Christmas really about children playing with their new consoles, or playing
with their new toy, or is it about them spending time with their families and celebrating Christmas? I
think everyone’s just taking it all out the ordinary.”
There have been many members arrested by the FBI but no one can be for certain they captured
all of the participants. Even if they did arrest all of the Lizard Squad there are groups like this all over the
U.S., not to mention the hundred of hacking groups that form in foreign countries. Dr. Piggin wrote a
paper on the growth of cyber crimes and cyber threats and had this to say about the growing threat that we
are faced with today, “Cyberspace threats posed the highest risks alongside terrorism, an international
military crisis, or a natural emergency, ahead of the second tier threats that include nuclear attacks.”(37)
The Lizard Squad is just a recent and luckily minor attack. They mainly attacked online gaming servers,
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but if they want to they had the potential to launch a major attack on something of more importance such
as the banking system or even the federal government.
Not only is the personally environment getting involved in this “Cyber Warfare” but now the
military has a big hand in the action on cyber war. In 2010, the United States Cyber Command was
formed. This is a new branch in the military that works only in the area of cyberspace and cyber attacks.
Along with the Department of Defense they help to protect the federal government and the military cyber
information to be kept secret, as well as try and penetrate foreign enemies’ information. “The Cyber
Command is an armed forces command responsible for directing operations and the protection of
Department of Defense networks and the conduct of military cyberspace operations.” (Piggin, 37) This is
the growing trend for the world of war, people are no longer trying to shoot each other when more
damage can be accomplished from safely behind a computer screen hundred of miles away. One of the
practices that are used by this command and other major online systems is the use of multiple security
systems. Richard Piggin wrote in The Reality of Cyber Terrorism about how it is highly doubtful that
you can be totally protected from high powered hackers with just one security system.
“No single security measure itself is foolproof as vulnerabilities and weakness could be identified
at any point in time. In order to reduce these risks, implementing multiple protection measures in
series avoids single points of failure.”(38)
It has been reported that the next generation of warfare will be mainly fought over cyberspace and
in an online form. Many people believe that this will be true, there are going to be new forms of
technology that can be controlled from anywhere. This would be a great advancement because then wars
could be fought with minimal casualties as compared to fights fought with people where thousands of
people lose their lives. The upside of this new form of warfare is less people will die, but the downside is
that cyber warfare is more damaging on things that are here in the U.S.—such as the banks and the
telecommunication systems. “America’s bid to stop nuclear proliferation may have unleashed a greater
threat.” (Gross, 1) The thing that holds people back from being more supportive and more involved is that
they can’t see the attacks or the damages being done. Cyberspace is described as an imaginary world
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where information is held in the form of codes and we cannot see, nor will we ever be able to physically
touch what is in this dimension. “Cyberspace is a battlefield. But it’s a battlefield you cannot see, and
whose engagements are rarely deduced or described publicly until long after the fact, like events in distant
galaxies.” (Gross, 1) Cyber terrorism may seem like a fantasy world akin to Star Wars or Once Upon a
Time, however it has a real impact on average people that live in this realm and in today’s world.
The hackers that are behind these attacks range from a number of people with different
backgrounds and different motivations for their actions. The Lizard Squad was attacking entertainment
system, inflicting no serious damage but took these systems down for a considerable amount of time. But
people like Wes Brown have different motivation. Brown partnered with one of his friends, Scott Dunlap,
and started a business called Ephemeral Security in 2005. Brown was deaf from cerebral palsy. These
men were hired by Banks to hack into their networks and steal information. Then after they completed the
attack they told the robbed bank how to keep the bad guys from doing the same thing. Brown and Dunlap
created the program they called Mosquito. Michael Gross wrote in the journal article “Silent War” about
the efficiency of Brown’s Mosquito program and how anyone can be a major hacker; you do not have to
be a nation-state. “This program would steal information but the biggest thing that it provided was to be
updated, switched out, and reprogrammed remotely through an encrypted connection back to a commandand-control server. The equivalent of in-flight drone repair.”(2) He continues by saying, “You don’t have
to be a nation-state to do this. You just have to be really smart.” (4)
Many attackers will be hired by an enemy government and told to work anonymously then if caught, deny
any relationship with that country. Cyber attacks is the new way of spying on each other whether it be on
a person to person attack, spying on a colleague, or how countries all over the world are spying on each
other to obtain information they have in cyberspace. Money can buy most of these attackers; they will
work for the highest bidder. Their country of origin doesn’t matter; they just want to get paid.
These are the problems of the modern world. Computers are becoming just as lethal as guns in some
ways. Looking at the potential that is created, if an eye is not continuously kept on the cyber world all of
the world that surrounds our society and has anything to do with computers could be in jeopardy of being
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attacked, stolen, or even destroyed, causing an emergency for everyone. Attacks on the banking system
have become very popular targets for terrorist groups, along with the federal government, and the biggest
fear for governments is that these attacks will start being focused towards energy plants and other energy
sources which could potential cause a major disaster for a country. Many believe that this act of cyber
terrorism is as big of an issue as the practice of nuclear warfare. Nuclear missiles or bombs have not been
used in over seven decades, while cyber attacks are happening everyday. “While it is impossible to
estimate the exact number of cyber crimes committed per year, there are statistics relating to the amount
of crimes reported. In 2006, more than 200,000 cyber crimes complaints were registered. That equates to
roughly one complaint every three minutes.” (Holden, 1) In today’s world one is going to have to be very
careful what we use online, look over credit card reports carefully, and most importantly be careful with
what information we have online. But even if one keeps all their information safe they might still become
a victim of a cyber attack.
Work Cited
Gross, Michael J. "Silent War." VF News. CULTURE, July 2013. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
Harress, Christopher. "Obama Says Cyberterrorism Is Country's Biggest Threat, U.S. Government
Assembles "Cyber Warriors"" International Business Times. International Business Times, 18 Feb. 2014.
Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
Holden, Dan. "Is Cyber-Terrorism the New Normal? | WIRED." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, n.d.
Web. 21 Apr. 2015.
Osuagwa, Prof. Oliver E., Prof. Tony Ogiemien, and Dr. Samuel Okide. "Deploying Forenscics Science
and Technology for Resolving National Cyber-Security Challenges." Journal of Mathematics and
Technology 3 (2010): 21-45. International Journal of Academic Research. Aug. 2010. Web. 13 Apr.
2015.
Piggin, Richard. "The Reality of Cyber Terrorism." Engineering and Technology (17509637) 5.17 (2010):
36-38. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
Rouse, Margaret. "What Is Cyberterrorism? - Definition from WhatIs.com." SearchSecurity. TargetTech,
n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2015.