A Cyberwar By Any Other Name…

LANGUAGE IS A WONDERFUL thing, but it’s also a convenient way to mask the truth sometimes. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter yes? Are they prisoners of war or “Enemy Combatants” over there in Gitmo? When does Iraq become a civil war and not a police action? Actually when does a conflict become a war? The list is endless.

The use of language has always been a very powerful weapon in the politics of persuasion and the media generally laps it up and plays along because it’s all good press and sells newspapers and TV advertising slots. It’s a perfect symbiotic relationship between the media, the politicans and the consumers. The politicians invent the lie, the media propagates it and the public eat it up willingly and convince themselves that they are “informed” as a result.

So how informed are you about the cyberwar cyberterror information warfare denial of service issue which occurred in Estonia earlier this year? Did you realise it was the beginning of the end? Have you started building your electronic proof bunker yet?

In April Estonia’s government moved a Soviet-era war memorial commemorating an unknown Russian killed fighting the Germans. Not a big deal you would think, but you’d be wrong. Estonia broke away from the then Soviet Union back in 1991 and has been making it’s own decisions and carving it’s own future ever since then. This seemingly innocuous decision to move the statue sparked off riots in the country between the ethnic russian communities and those who couldn’t care less about the “old country”. To make matters worse in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin very publicly criticized Estonia and demonstrators blockaded the Estonian embassy.

And that’s about the point when things started to go all cyberpunk and weird and the cyberwar broke out…

The Estonian government says its state and commercial websites – including a number of banks – were bombarded by mass requests for information – overwhelming their computer servers. Despite the fact that there are only 1.4 million people in Estonia it is actually one of the most wired places on the planet, largely due to the country’s parliament deciding that Internet access is a basic human right. They have even had e-voting since 2005. This very connectivity is what was exploited in a three week denial of service attack which – at the time – was alleged to have been orchestrated by Russia in retalliation for the insult of moving this war memorial.  Russia denied any involvement and then NATO were called in to assist. Yes, you read that right. NATO were called in to provide technical assistance in beefing up Estonia’s electronic defences against this 21st century implementation of a siege. Welcome to the cyberwar.

Some pundits called this the first instance of real cyberwarfare and hint of what was to come. The media jumped on the bandwagon and there are lots of news items out there in the ether helping to raise the paranoia levels around the planet. “It’s no longer science fiction” the articles scream. “The future of warfare is here” they proclaim. “State sponsored computer crime” is a reality. All the usual hyperbole and paranoia fuelled articles surfaced and were consumed by hungry readers across the globe. Eventually though Estonia changed its language and the press followed suit. Cyberwar was downgraded to “cyberterror”. An analysis by Arbor Networks’ Jose Nazario concluded that the distributed denial of service attacks targeting Estonia websites beginning in late April were not the work of the Russian government – so the need to change the language was obvious. The focus then shifted from a state sponsored attack to “terrorism”, everyones favourite word these days.

And of course we can’t have a cyberwar without a complimentary cyberconflict now can we?  The prevailing opinion is that the denial of service (DOS) episode in Estonia was the work of disgruntled (but ‘Net savvy) protestors. In this respect it’s being referred to as a cyberconflict rather than a war, much the same way the ongoing electronic exchanges between Pakistan and India are being called a cyberconflict. That’s not to say however that the powers that be aren’t already warming us consumers up for even more threat level orientated paranoia of the state-sponsored kind. Bad-guys-du-jour China are getting in a lot of press lately because of their so-called first strike cyberwar strategy and capability.

Hell it won’t be long before the USA tries to convince us that all those islamic militants and terrorists around the world are actually connected to the web and wreaking havoc across the globe. Can you see it yet? A bunch of appropriately dressed terrorists (they have to be so that the public can identify them as the bad guys) crowded around a PC plotting the downfall of western civilisation.

The bottom line here is that a rose by any other name… is still a rose. A cyberwar cyberconflict cyberterrorism event is still a bloody attack by one party on another, in whatever form it takes. The only difference is the medium, the method… but the same thing has been going on forever. For what it’s worth I have always rated things on a very simple sliding scale as follows:-

1) State Sponsored: I don’t care if it’s called a conflict, a police action or a war, it’s still one state or nation forcing itself on another. Ever since one nation developed an army and inflicted itself upon another we’ve been refining this practice and even now with all the technology and button pushing it still results in the same finale; dead bodies, smoking ruins and huge budget deficits.

2) Corporately Sponsored: Espionage is espionage, business is business. It’s been going on since the dawn of commerce and will always be there. Get over it. It’s part of doing business that your competitors will always want to get the advantage on you so whether its insider trading in Wall Street or dishing the secret formula for Coke Cola, it’s nothing new. If you want to play in the big leagues, bring a baseball bat.

3) Privately Sponsored: Ah yes, the perfect expression of a grudge. Revenge, divorce, dissolution of partnerships… it’s all the same. One party wants the other one fucked and as long as you have the money anything is possible. There are whole industries out there which developed from this primal urge to get one over on your ex. It helps if you have the cash though.

4) Non-Sponsored: Hackers, phishers, slackers, script kiddies, students, kids… the usual collection of miscreants with too much knowledge and time on their hands. A little knowledge goes a long way and whether it’s hacking into the school computers to change your grades or splatting your college professors car with eggs it all amounts to the same thing. Too much talent combined with too much free time equals trouble; always has and always will.

So – next time you pick up a paper and read all about the latest cyberwarfare or information war event around the globe; don’t panic. It’s nothing new. It’s not the end of the world. It’s not even the start of the end of the world. It’s all just the same old crap regurgitated into a new language to suit the political need to keep you afraid and under control; because when you are scared you are easier to control. When you are scared you will buy into anything they tell you.

So don’t be scared. You don’t need to switch off your PC just yet. No need to build an electronic proof bunker under your house. It’s just language folks. See through the language and discern for yourself what is actually going on if you can.

Oh – and a little bit of cynicism will get you a long way