As time goes on, there have been new ways for terrorists to exercise their agenda to increase the extent of their destruction. We previously looked at nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons have grown increasingly as a threat, and now we also have cyber warfare to worry about. No matter how many security threats we address, we still can never 100% protect our country from these potential threats.
In the reading, “The Hacked World Order” Chapter 1, we look at Stuxnet, a malware that the US used to target Iran and stop the advancing of their nuclear program. We tend to think of cyber threats as targeting the federal government of a nation, but one of the biggest cyber attacks we are aware of was the 2014 Sony hack. North Korean state-sponsored hackers attacked Sony Pictures with malware that stole their data and destroyed their digital network across the globe. The reason for this hack? Sony’s newest movie: The Interview a comedy which mocks the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, and has two men assassinating him. Why would North Korea care about a Hollywood movie when they have blocked any access to outside media, and place those who are caught watching illegally accessed films in labor camps or executed? Simply because they didn’t want negative portrayals of their Supreme Leader to be spread around the world. This specific example does show that there are no limitations to cyber attacks, and that they can happen to non-governmental entities. Which means we need stricter policies on this type of security issue.
Adam Segal says, “Individuals and civil society now participate in global politics in new ways, but sovereign states can do astonishing and terrifying things that no collection of citizens or subjects can carry out.” (pg.2) Society and individuals can now be victims to security threats by entities that act outside of the government’s agenda. How can we hold people accountable for actions when they act through a cyber network and outside a government? Well, through the terminology “digital sovereignty,” which holds all of the internet under the sovereignty of a nation and therefore its laws. Which means someone must be held accountable for the rules of the nation they use the internet from. While this seems to come with certain negative aspects, like a government’s ability to force certain companies to go under security inspections or intimidate internet users, it does provide benefits as well. In the case of the North Korean hack, President Obama introduced new legislation to respond to cyber crime attacks and prosecute these crimes while protecting the privacy of Americans. There were also charges pressed against one of the North Korean programmers behind the hack. With new security policies that can hold people accountable, we will be able to better protect the security of our nation. As we deal with new innovations with technology, whether that be to protect against malware or incite malware, we need to be constantly evolving our understanding of cyber security with it.
One reply on “Week 12- Nailah”
Nailah,
We clearly are living in a “new world order”–thanks in large part to extraordinary advances in computing that have given non-state actors enormous new power. You made mention of hacking in your post, and that is certainly one such power. But with advent of AI all sorts of additional malicious actions will become–or already have become–possible. Indeed, the principal lesson from the 9/11 terrorist attacks is that they are asymmetric and in most cases, unpredictable. Terrorists identify weak points and attack them. As we become ever more dependent on automated systems, our exposure to terrorist attacks only increases. –Professor Wallerstein