The third digital war Part 2
Total war
The ways of hacking and network security have long been if not the main, exactly the most promising means of hostilities between governments. The Obama administration, for example, every year reports on the number of incidents of hacking of information security of government facilities. For the period from 2010 to 2014, their frequency has increased almost twice, from 34 to 61 thousands of cases. The last attack has brought hackers to the information about 11 million workers of the government sector, including social protection and employment details including reports on the work.
The head of the Service of national intelligence James Clapper in his report declared cyber terrorism the number one threat, putting it above the weapons of mass destruction and the state of espionage. In the United States since 2009 there is a national organization of US Cyber Command with more than six thousand employees, which has recently celebrated the news that he organized among several firms the competition to the production of lethal cyber weapon, able not only to destroy or paralyze the enemy's infrastructure, but to cause a real, non-virtual injury of the attacked objects. We are talking about a grant of almost half a billion dollars and the software that can cause a kind of explosion on the TRANS Siberian pipeline in 1982.
Such programs fundamentally change the tactics of cyber warfare that have applied the governments of the major countries from defensive to offensive. In the case of the US, this is an understandable development: 61000 attacks annually, plus regular news about the hundred thousandth of a hacker army of China who want to be forced to change the shield on the sword a little more and go for the gusto. The US really recently subjected to attacks more than other countries.
A victim of over the past year had become even the Department of energy. As a result of breaking the network got the data about 100 thousand employees, the losses amounted to four million dollars. One of the most vulnerable organizations recognized by the IRS (IRS). According to the Vice President of the company FireEye Tony Cole's record of tax and income Americans can be compromised or destroyed by one successful attack.
Knowing that vulnerability, States have repeatedly tried to pass a law about a makeshift "Internet Switch" (adapted from the translation of the term "Kill Switch") that in the event of a serious threat from outside or inside could deactivate network nodes, States, or completely disable the traffic flows within the country. However, the bill did not pass in his last iteration in 2010 due to numerous technical difficulties in the organization and the ensuing violations of the First amendment, guaranteeing us citizens freedom of speech.
They are called the troops information operations. According to officials, initially the unit was scheduled to enter into operation in 2017, but its formation was greatly accelerated after the statements by Edward Snowden exposed the global digital surveillance by the NSA of the United States. About Russian "digital soldier", very little is known, but officials of the military departments of the United States in the second half of 2015 was repeatedly stated about the technological superiority of Russia in a network the front. Which is only the hacking Russian hackers, US Department of State with the subsequent leakage of correspondence for government officials and important documents, like schedules, appointments of the President.
Another power, decided to act on this front is China. In the case of it, official information, some rumors and speculation. At some point, following this information, China found that US military spending exceed Chinese spending is almost four times what was created the national program on preparing for digital attacks and their reflection. American counterintelligence found that Chinese hackers working for the government, has long been separately hacked into a database of all military contractors in the States and have an almost complete picture of the military capabilities of the United States, including weapons technology and on the development data.