NATO is preparing to repel Russian cyber attacks
In connection with the rapid development of IT-technologies, the problem of ensuring information security has become urgent. The essence of which is to ensure the protection of the information environment and information arrays, as well as the prevention of information leakage and the prevention of unauthorized impacts on the information environment.
World leaders in the implementation of methods and methods of information security and the detection of vulnerabilities in "foreign" computer networks are Russia, China and Iran. NATO is making maximum efforts to prevent cyber attacks on the information resources of the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance. As part of the implementation of this program from 13 to 16 in November, NATO plans to conduct large-scale cyber-attack and retaliation exercises. A certain African African country was “appointed” as a cyber-aggressor, although for those who are familiar with the scenario of the exercise, it is not a secret that this concerns potential opponents of the alliance - Russia, Iran and China. The exercise provides for the development of events in the disabling of the on-board computer of a military transport aircraft by means of a computer virus. According to the scenario, he crashes over the territory of Hungary, leading to heavy casualties among the civilian population and NATO troops. At the same time, the Estonian infrastructure is under attack by hackers, as a result of which the life support process in the country is disrupted. The NATO leadership has classified the result of these attacks as sufficient for the Alliance to repair and retaliate to take action.
This whole “operetta” scenario actually raises the most pressing issue that requires careful thought, since it is connected with providing a safe environment for the population of countries that can be subjected to cyber attacks.
Thus, high-ranking US officials and specialists in Internet technologies constantly insist that the information resources of the country are under threat. According to US Secretary of Defense Leon Planet, cyberspace, instead of a unifying world resource, turns into a battlefield. He argues that hackers who are now breaking into financial networks, having increased their power, may well attack electrical distribution networks and secret state resources. A professor at the American Northeastern University, William Robertson, noted that based on the very structure of building the Internet and the availability of technical means, it is impossible to determine the location of the attacker network, the hacker.
But American experts have worthy opponents. Leading information security expert Mikro Hipponen believes that the threat spoken of by the US Secretary of Defense is not so dangerous, since many of the hacker groups sponsored by the states are known to lose their profitable work when the infrastructure of the United States is destroyed and functioning The internet. Hipponen reasonably believes that, despite the fact that hacker attacks are carried out for different motives and different techniques, it is possible to defend against them by calculating who and why might attack you. The cessation of the work of the World Wide Web is also unprofitable for the state, because through it it is possible to intercept information traffic, using it both for espionage and for planned disinformation. Hipponen believes that the United States is not so much a victim of cyber attacks as its world initiator. For example, companies engaged in the development of antivirus programs recorded five virus attacks that were directly related to the Olympic Games operation conducted by the United States and Israel. An interesting fact: after the publication by the media of information about cyber attacks conducted by the United States, there was no refutation.
The UK is also taking measures to combat cybercrime: a recruitment of specialists with experience in the Internet has been announced (no higher education is required). Their duty will be to ensure state security in the world information web, as well as the fight against cyber attacks. The recruited group will undergo short-term training in the field of security, communications and engineering. The head of the UK Government Communications Center, William Hague, is confident that specialists who have grown up in the world of a global network will provide the country with a leading global role in cybersecurity. It should be noted that the resources of the state structures of Great Britain were repeatedly attacked by hackers. For example, in April, 2012, the attackers blocked the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in protest against tightening control over private information on the Internet. During the scandal with WikiLeaks, the site of the British government was attacked.
China, in turn, claims that its systems are blocked by huge hacker traffic, which is initiated from outside the Middle Kingdom. The nationwide edition of China Daily reports that the number of IT attacks has increased significantly: over the 2012 year, more than 27 thousand cyber attacks were recorded, which affected about 7 million computers. Chinese experts believe that 24% attacks come from the US, 17% attacks from Japan and 11% attacks from South Korea. In April, hackers from the Philippines distorted information on several dozens of Chinese sites, leaving offensive inscriptions. And in June, an external cyber attack was recorded, as a result of which educational and medical networks were infected.
The Japanese government has taken the initiative to create a unified cybersecurity system with ASEAN countries. The decision was made after cyber attacks on Japanese government resources and websites of Japanese corporations. ASEAN countries will exchange information on new cyber defense technologies against hacker attacks and jointly take action in the event of a cyber attack on the networks of any of them.
The world community for several years taking measures to combat cyber attacks. These cyber attacks make a depressing impression on the incompetent user of networks, since they create an opinion about the instability and insecurity of resources. The Internet has a complex structure, so it is not surprising that there are so-called “vulnerability windows” in it. Hence the conclusion: the more technological the country, the more vulnerable it is from cyber attacks. The peculiarity of the cyber war is that it applies the “strike from the corner” strategy, since the enemy and his whereabouts are unknown, and it is very problematic to strike back. Anyone who, in the midst of cyber-attacks, will be able to hack into the information network of the enemy, is likely to win.
The fact that cyber warfare is simultaneously a psychological effect has shown story with the publication on the site WikiLeaks information about the wars in which the United States. This disclosure created a threat to the lives of many people, caused enormous damage to the diplomatic image of the United States and showed America’s vulnerability to this type of weapons.
Russian state and commercial structures are taking measures to protect their information resources from being invaded from the outside. Confirmation are placed by government customers on the national website bidding for the choice of performers who will undertake to:
- to conduct a technical check on the subject of implanted electronic devices that intercept information;
- investigate technical devices for the presence of spurious electromagnetic radiation;
- develop and implement software and hardware information security tools in the infrastructure of state authorities;
- conducting research in the field of information security of IT systems;
- provision of educational services in the field of training and retraining of specialists in ensuring information security;
- the creation of a system that notifies the user about the presence of a network attack or an attempt to hack the network.
The defense ministry is also not far behind the civilian state structures. Military specialists are interested in developing methods and means to bypass antivirus programs, network protection tools, protection of operating systems, etc. All these elements are components of “cyber-weapons” and can be used by the owner of these technologies for both defense and attack. The deadlines for development are very tight, and funding is generous. This is due to the fact that such a military industry as “cyber weapons” is developing at a rapid pace, and the lag in this area can lead first to paralysis of control, and then to the destruction of the country.
Russia has a certain advantage over other participants in cyber resistance - this is a high-quality technical education, a serious mathematical school, a high level of training of Russian programmers, and well-developed IT technologies.
Russian specialists are able to work against various kinds of cyber attacks, but in order to increase our country's defense capability, additional funding is needed to develop modern defense technologies and attacks in the event of conflicts in cyberspace.
Against this background, NATO exercises, to repel cyber attacks of a fictional African state, look ridiculous.
Materials used:
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2012_10_18/NATO-gotovitsja-k-kibervojne-s-Rossiej/
http://d-russia.ru/yaponiya-xochet-sozdat-edinuyu-sistemu-kiberbezopasnosti-so-stranami-asean.html
http://materik.ru/rubric/detail.php?ID=6650
http://versii.com/news/265290/
http://www.warandpeace.ru/ru/news/view/73848/
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