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06.09.2010

CYBER TROOPS: NECESSITY DICTATED BY TIME

   

Samvel Martirosyan

Cyber-terrorism and other cyber-threats to the modern state where information systems and communications take more and more dominant infrastructure role and become a serious strength test. The growth of the number of the critical parts, which can become an object of remote attack and put out of action infrastructures of the entire states, make many countries think over the creation of the cyber-troops which will be able to protect the virtual territory of the country.

At present a small group of cyber-terrorists may cause a serious damage to the most significant structures on the national level. Taking into consideration the rapid development of technologies and their involvement into the management of the structures of strategic importance, the number of the vulnerabilities grows disproportionately as compared to the possibilities of the state structures to resist new threats.

Thus, in February of this year American non-commercial organization Bipartisan Policy Center1 carried out experiment in a course of which it tried to find out to what extent the economics of the US is vulnerable to the hacker attacks. The results, rather unexpectedly, turned out to negative. Only 230 computers of the experiment participants were involved in the “attack” on the state institutions’ networks. This was enough to paralyze the work of the computers, which are responsible for the country’s electricity provision, within several minutes. Then the researchers carried out the similar attack on the cellular communications systems: the mobile phones of the subscribers were infected with viruses, after which smart phones began to use data-traffic most actively. As a result it brought to the failures in the network and collapse of the mobile networks. The experts of Bipartisan Policy Centre state if hackers will aim to hit the US and will do it as efficiently as possible, 40 million Americans on the east of the country will stay without electricity just in 30 minutes after the “attack”. In more than an hour 60 million subscribers of the mobile communication in the country will see that their phones have turned into the useless “key-rings”. In order to paralyze Wall Street activity just several hours will be needed2.

The number of the attacks on the commercial and state structures grows every year. In 2009 75% of companies were under attack and lost on the average $2 million. These are the results of global study of the corporate security carried out by Symantec Company. The inquire carried out among IT-directors, heads of the information security departments and IT-managers from 27 countries comes to prove the growth of the activity of the cyber-criminals in a corporate sector on a global level. During the last year 75% of the companies faced the problem of cyber-attacks, 36% defined those attacks as highly effective for the intruders. More than 29% of those who were inquired stated that during the last year the attacks became more frequent3.

For the US and EU member countries the protection of their cyber-space becomes a priority which demands changes in power structures. The signal that the cyber-defence demands systematic approach became the attacks on Estonia in spring 2007. After the collapse of the Estonian networks which were under the attacks (supposedly of Russian hackers, who were probably controlled by power structures), official Tallinn had to turn to NATO for help. The attack on Estonia caused global revision of the general cyber-defence strategy by the North-Atlantic Alliance.

The expert studies caused qualitative changes in NATO approaches. At the beginning of June of this year the expert conclusion was spread. Organization of North-Atlantic Treaty considers the possibility of usage of the military force in regard of the enemies who arranges cyber-attacks against Alliance member counties. And at the same time the most dangerous, from this point of view, are considered to be Russia and China.

The recommendations of usage of military forces against those who arranged cyber-attacks were forwarded by a group of experts of the Alliance headed by the former US State Secretary Madeleine Albright. The special report drafted by the specialists reads: “The next attack on NATO member countries will be across the fiber-optic cable”.

It is mentioned in the document that cyber-terrorism which constitutes danger for infrastructure can be compared with the military attack and demands appropriate response. “A large-scale cyber-attack on NATO systems of management and energy servers concedes the usage of the retaliatory measures in compliance with the point 5 of the North-Atlantic Alliance Charter”4.

This NATO approach takes cyber-war on the same level with traditional military encounters. In future it will become a ground for both reconsideration of the military strategy and structural changes in the defence systems.

One can say that such changes are already taking place. Thus, the US singled out the defence of their virtual territory in a separate structure. Beside the fact that there are separate department in the US power structures, on January 26, 2010 the US Navy established the cyber-troops. The CYBERFOR (about 14 thousand militaries and civil servants in the staff5) is subordinate directly to the US Naval Command and it will work in cooperation with the USN NETWARCOM information service. The following responsibilities are a part of its duties: the cryptographic work, information intelligence, information support provision, defence from the attacks through the computer networks and with the usage of the high technologies by the enemy. Besides, the space operations, which will be carried out for the support of the USN on the land and on the sea, are under the charge of the new troops6.

Today, the countries which are developed in terms of technologies come to the logical development of their power structures – the creation of the special forces which are able both to resist coordinated attacks on the cyber-space of country and deliver counter-strikes on the infrastructure of the potential enemy.

Conclusions for Armenia

For Armenia infrastructural vulnerability for the remote cyber-attacks is not as high as for the US and EU member countries. At the same time the adoption of the information technologies by different infrastructures in Armenia is apparent and in the years to come the structural changes can be forecasted which will cause the appearance of a great number of vulnerable junctions.

Armenia is already under the periodical attacks of Azerbaijani and Turkish hackers’ groups. Today their activity does not cause serious damage to the country, especially, if we take into consideration the fact that the state structures are under the protection of the State Security Service. At the same time, for example, the escalation of the conflict around Nagorno-Karabakh may cause intensification of the attacks on the Armenian segment of Internet which may, in its turn, cause serious deformations in the information field.

At the same time, it should be taken into consideration that Armenia is a potential target not only for the enemy countries or terrorist groups but also for the criminal groups which may pursue exclusively mercantile aims, e.g. attacks on the financial networks of the country.

Creation of cyber-troops for Armenia is a necessity today, because, in fact, cyber-space of the country is not protected from the large-scale attacks of the potential enemy. In fact, there is no structure which is responsible and capable to protect the cyber-space of the country from serious threats. Cyber-troops have to solve those very issues and such a necessity is already apparent.

Cyber-troops not only have to cooperate with the intelligence services and forces of radio-electronic warfare. In the period of possible escalation of conflict the cyber-troops have to provide the security of the Armenian information field. They should also be responsible for neutralization of Internet activity of the enemy in cooperation with country’s propaganda structures during the military conflict.

The negative aspect of the absence of such coordinated structure could clearly be seen during the Russian-Georgian war in August 2008. The massive cyber-attack on the Georgian segment of Internet caused the decrease of information activity of Georgia and Russia won an advantage in a propaganda war which had a decisive effect on a course of the war in general.

At the same time the delay in creation of such structure which is capable to solve the issues on country’s cyber-space defence will complicate its formation connected with the high pace of the development of the information technologies and dynamic of change of the threats connected with them.

1 http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org

2 http://www.expert.ru/articles/2010/06/08/otvet_kiberugroze/

3 http://oren-help.ru/publ/kiberataki_obkhodjatsja_kompanijam_v_srednem_po_2_mln_doll_v_god/1-1-0-5

4 http://www.utro.ru/articles/2010/06/08/899546.shtml

5 http://www.cyberfor.navy.mil/

6 http://www.lenta.ru/news/2010/01/27/cyberfor/


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