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  • Essay / Cyberwar: Challenges and Options for India's Defense

    “India absorbs and survives the words of its Indian conquerors. But... I wonder if, intellectually, for a thousand years, India has not always retreated before the conquerors and if, in its periods of apparent rebirth, India has not only surrendered again archaic, intellectually smaller, still vulnerable. "Say No to Plagiarism Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIn centuries past, the tiger ruled the jungle; today, it is “ mouse” that wears the crown and canonizes cyberspace The saying that “power flows from the barrel of the gun” is outdated; instead, power flows from mouse clicks into bits and bytes later; , when optical and quantum computing augurs the presence, it will be in “photons” and “qubits” “respectively; or even later, in the “cogs” of cognitive computing, still to be explained philosophically. The cybernetic canvas is vast, the pieces abundant and the moves incredibly complex and varied, performing chess, struggling for checkmate. The most significant paradigm shift that has occurred is the transition of ICT from a supporting function to the core of military affairs and control of the economy and critical national efforts. Likewise, the relevant example in warfare is that of the force multiplier up to the weapon of mass disruption, leading to widespread, split-second destruction of the adversary's sinews of power. There are "ahoy" cyberattacks, the variety of weapon overruns counts and breakup styles. limits of decorum and ethics ad nauseum. Affordable and mobile broadband technologies have facilitated these attacks due to their easy access to populations around the world, see Figures 1.1 and 1.2 respectively. They target national governments, militaries, critical infrastructure, economies and social fabric by disrupting or destroying networks, software, hardware, mobiles, user interfaces and even wetware. The latest in the series are Operations Shady RAT, Nitro and Red October, originating authentically or allegedly from Chinese soil, and “revolutionary” malware of this type; Ransomware, Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame, widely believed to be state-sponsored, with speculation, real or imagined, pointing to Israel and the United States. They are complemented by CHAMP which targets enemy electronic systems with NNEMP; HERF gun, electronic bombs. photonic weapon systems, EMR weapons like DRDO's 'Kali', laser weapons including energy beam weapons and the revitalized DEW from the secret research of the last century. In the above context, on April 16, 2010, while addressing senior officers of the Defense Services and Army Ministry of Defense, AK Antony, the then Defense Minister, called on the top brass of the armed forces to coordinate closely with various national cybersecurity agencies and prepare an action plan to counter cyberattacks and cyberterrorism. He has reiterated this advice in various forums, the latest being the 14th Asian Conference on “Non-Traditional Security Threats – Today and Tomorrow”, held from March 13-15, 2012 under the aegis of the Institute defense studies and analyses. Cyber ​​insecurity is topical and resolutely sought after. According to him, “Cybersecurity is an area of ​​critical concern. With the digitalization of the world and various services, the world is becoming more and more dependent on the Internet and information technology. However, theNetwork security has become a major concern as huge, vital and critical data passes through every day. Any breach of cyber networks can cause incalculable damage to the security of any society and countries must take serious and prompt notice and cooperate with each other to strengthen security. “cybersecurity”. It is not that the defense services were unaware of the importance of cyber combat, but their involvement was not to the liking of the "agencies" for fear of a takeover of power. Additionally, there is a widespread perception among geeks and laypeople alike that cyber breaches are more common. The nature of fraud, malware introduction, identity theft, spam and phishing , all falling within the domain of public order. These quirks, coupled with the indifference of the erstwhile establishment, have kept the defense services comatose, worse still, sidelined. However, each Service, on its own initiative, organized a small cyber evening, just to keep up to date with what is happening in the world. However fragmented, cut-price, and self-initiated this effort may be, it can hardly compete with foreign nonstate actors and domestic terrorists, let alone our avowed and aggressive adversaries and their proxies disguised as insiders. shedding corporate-tainted cost-benefit platitudes and taking cyberwar seriously in light of the prevailing charitable and harsh environment, which calls for armed forces-specific synchronization of the development of defensive and offensive capabilities in the cyberarena. The IDSA released a task force report titled Cybersecurity Challenges in India, 2012, which is thought-provoking and timely, but somewhat aggregative, reconciling diverse stakeholder views. It astutely describes the "2020 regional security scenario", emphasizing the challenges of asymmetry, anonymity, non-attributable propensity and denial as hallmarks of cyber warfare, but discreetly defers details of targeted attacks until 'now on India, their authors, the cyber weapons used, or in perspective. Yet, in “Back to the Future 1997 to 2012” and “Events of June 30, 2020,” the report judiciously presents and provides the “unsaid,” the “known unknown” to make its point. Computer science has grown exponentially. Not a day goes by without technology throwing up surprises or ICANN proposing new measures for Internet governance. In 2011, the successful trials of the new Internet protocol “IPV6” and the new “domain name suffixes” were examples of both excitement and apprehension. While the aforementioned IDSA report proposes a “top-down” approach, this exhibit highlights a “bottom-up” analytical point of view. In this context, we must also think about increasing cyber units across the chain, training warriors and conducting exercises aimed at delivering multiple weapon payloads from combat platforms , both real and virtual, with or without crew. It would be prudent to take inspiration from what others are doing, lest we be excluded from the futuristic cybernetics, psychotronics, scalar or DEW club or, for that matter, Internet governance - as is the relevant example of the isolation of the nuclear club. India's cybersecurity and war policy paradigms are outdated, clichéd and unimaginative, with a few glaring exceptions, the minimum also restricted and confined to the coffers of the upper echelons of the hierarchy. If cyber intrusion, techno-espionage, internet spying, infrastructure sabotage andElectromagnetic attacks are recognized as acts of war, so “offensive action” is of vital essence to any strategic or tactical plan. Combat, whether real or virtual, is a legitimate concern of the man in uniform and, that too, “exclusive” and “elitist” in its conception and justification. The dictum “Secure or Perish” given as the title to an earlier published work based on the project “Emerging Global and National Infrastructures and Their Security Implications: An Analysis” assigned by the USI of India under of DRDO scholarship, Dr. Kothari in 1998, suggests a shift to pre-eruption or repentance, more consistent with emerging risks and challenges; although the hitherto predominant inclination to “secure” continues to have recognizable, if not imperative, virtues. The first word, anticipate, underestimates the generalized propensity to post-attack “corrections” and “parries” after the fact; instead, the emphasis is on preventive intelligence and constant surveillance 24/7. Furthermore, this does not in itself rule out "stabbing". The second word, repent, emphasizes the inevitable regrets of not taking timely action, including retaliation or the threat of retaliation. Moreover, contrary to the precepts and doctrine of the “cold start” or “two front war”, the action plan cannot and should not be country specific, because cyberspace defies borders; moreover, the abominable acts hide a hostile source, also initiated perhaps by a fair-weather friend or a proven enemy. , although it is not recognized, many among the decision-makers would not have heard of MVTW, botnets, zombies, logic bombs, trapdoors, EMR, EMP and scalar weapons, nor of the ostentatious strategy and the multiplicity of devices in the form of entry, anonymity, autonomy, self-replication and intelligent characteristics of the malware. The Chinese and Pakistan Army PLA controls the hackers, crackers and Whackerz, while we in India keep our armed forces, academics and scientists cut off from intelligence sharing and surveillance, let alone being at knowledge of latent threat assessment and unambiguous doctrine to train offensive options. This research work is not an introduction to either so-called ethical hacking or counter-hacking. However, its rationale and purpose. would be lost if malicious technologies, both currently revolutionary and futuristic, are not discussed and their impact on political dynamics is ignored. Cyberwarfare requires the creation of dedicated training establishments and the deployment of cyberwarrior units for the learning and practice of its art. Unlike kinetic warfare, the involvement of these units is not limited to active hostilities, but also in peacetime; not only within the geographical borders of a state, but also in outer space, water and air space, friendly, hostile or neutral or common beyond. Cyber ​​warriors are disciplined in the artistic and scientific fields of ICT, electromagnetic propagation, next generation networks, software programming, cognitive radio and exploiting the intricacies of computer networks, robotics, cryptography and a host of other inherited and emerging skills and know-how. attacks. This research focuses on both conceptual and practical aspects of technology language and cyberidiom, such as bandwidth, packet-switched networks, grid topologies, almanac ofmalware, system analysis and database management, archiving and mining; in addition to common tactical terms, associated and prefixed with "cyber", such as reconnaissance, surveillance, convergence, situational awareness and asymmetric doctrine. The findings and recommendations presented here are designed to illuminate risks and challenges, project futuristic techno-coups; distrusting perspectives defined by war abroad, favoring real-world deliberations; and stimulate appropriate policy solutions to challenges identified and predicted in one way or another. This work evokes a basic orientation to India-centric policy dynamics on cybersecurity and warfare. It addresses several fundamental perspectives, including: It emphasizes the fundamental idea that cyberspace is a virtual, versatile and dynamic domain or environment with its own rules, whereas warfare rigorously follows established principles. The synthesis of the two terms, cyber and war, produces a unique paradigm, lucid, powerful and resilient, resolutely and always exploratory. It is based on the scientific interpretation that cyberspace has distinct layers (physical, syntactic and semantic) the conquest of each of which has a very different meaning. It supports the oft-expressed beliefs that cyberspace is an indivisible "global commons" and that it will not replace geographic space or abolish state sovereignty. But the diffusion of power in cyberspace will coexist with geographic space. and greatly obscures what is involved in the exercise of power in each of these areas. It provides an overview of vulnerabilities, past incidents and anti-technologies like viruses, worms and Trojans, which torment us, and follows the tactic of swarming; zapping, warfare, blue-jacking, counter-sniffing, identity protection and deep packet inspection, then evaluates variants and methodologies of cyberattacks; - distributed, considered, unified, massed and blend. This highlights the susceptibility of our infrastructure to terrorist and enemy attacks, particularly those equipped with SCADAICS. These are cybernetic or computer-controlled systems. They highlight the industries, businesses, infrastructure managers and security forces that are an integral and vital part of national security. It is their responsibility to learn how to effectively combat cyber threats, and that too in concert with each other. This highlights the need to establish inter-agency structures that train and conduct cyber exercises identifying current and future threats, expected from states and non-state organizations. entities with a view to engaging in war and peace. It seeks to create an elite army of futuristic techno-geeks who innovate and propagate software-defined and intelligence-enabled cybergadgets; a band of black box inspectors who predict, trace, track and “black hole” even “zero-day malware”; and a community of motivated cyber warriors, experienced in cyber commerce, somewhat discreet, but seasoned by the crisis, who serves the country to become a responsive and dissuasive cyber power, based on calculation and merit. She insists that cyberwar is, first and foremost, a “war,” both by name and by implication; it is therefore a major and serious concern of the armed forces. In our deliberations, we should avoid: first, civilian-military differentiation in jurisdiction. What is needed instead is a clear, unfettered policy..