In view what has been called the "cyber-warfare"
dimension to the Russia-Georgia conflict, and the reported Chinese
cyber-espionage ongoing against the west since c.2003 ('Titan
Rain', and so on), how concerned should we in the UK be about
state-sponsored hacking?
Recent events in Georgia illustrate the increasing role of
cyber-attacks and no country should be complacent about its
possible impact. What happens in other countries can have a ripple
effect and result in "collateral damage" for the rest of the world,
especially those doing business with the country under attack. For
example, bringing down the internet or hacking into remote systems
means that communications and business with that region are
adversely affected and security may be compromised.
It is very likely that some of this new
"cyber-warfare" and "cyber-espionage" is state sponsored but
there is also the emerging hacktivist community. These groups are
intent on doing damage that their governments could prevent but in
many cases choose to ignore, which results in these criminals
acting with impunity. Although simply defacing or shutting down
websites and spreading propaganda is bad enough there is an
increasingly sinister element to this hacktivist activity.
What many of us call "Blended Threats", which combine physical
and electronic attacks, may become a problem in the future. If IT
systems are disrupted at the same time a physical terrorist attack
takes place, recovery could be more difficult for governments and
their defence and emergency services. This not only compounds the
impact of the event but once the integrity of essential data is
compromised it becomes unreliable and creates a loss of trust and
confidence in the authorities and their IT support systems.
Countries heavily dependent on IT need to be increasingly aware
of these new risks, ranging from Denial of Service attacks to
hacking and ID theft. Organised groups, whether state sponsored or
otherwise, will always look for vulnerabilities and may already be
planting the cyber equivalent of "sleeper cells" to activate at the
appropriate time.
Governments must develop strategies and take proactive measures
to minimise the risk and impact and build their ability to respond
and recover as quickly as possible from such attacks.