arch 07, 2014
To: Michael Sohan
From: Lindan Li LL, Ryan Flores RF, Yannik Azan-Smith YAS
Subject: Cyber Scurity:- Cyber Espionage and its global implications
We are going to analyze some problems that Nation States/Organizations face, as cyber espionage security risks are prevailant in the information world. There is no permanent solations to combat cyber espionage, as such we will be looking at the latter, and discussing some ways we can effectively protect ourselves from the security risk of cyber espionage.
Purpose and Scope
The purpose of this paper is to explain what is cyber espionage? We want to give you an idea of the way cyber espionage works and how cyber espionage works. How does cyber espionage affect Nation States/Organisation? The scope of this paper about Cyber Espionage will be explained in the three following areas:
• How Nation States/Organisation target each other through cyber espionage?
• How cyber espionage is implemented?
• Strategies that can be utilized to reduce the effects of cyber espionage.
What is cyber espionage?
Cyber espionage, is the act or practice of obtaining sensitive secrets without the permission of the holder of the, from individuals, competitors, governments and enemies for personal, economic, political or military advantage using methods on the Internet, networks or individual computers through the use of cracking techniques and malicious software including Trojan horses and spyware. It may wholly be perpetrated online from computer desks of professionals on basis in far away countries or may involve infiltration at home by computer trained conventional spies and moles or in other cases may be the criminal handiwork of amateur malicious hackers and software programmers.
How N...
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...le deniability by eliminating any trace that implicates their cell or country they work for. Third parties would host any command and control severs in a network cloud or compromised machine own by said third party.
To achieve plausible deniability the team would have to use route connected to these servers, all data regarding any infected host and the infiltrated data would be encrypted. Strong authentications would be used to access these servers which would be rotated periodically in and out of service to avoid detection.
Exfiltration
The types of information that can be collected from infected hosts are numerous.
Machine settings- Infected machines in an organization expose configurations, apps, and security that are present to protect the machine. This information will help in the development of attacks tailored to the information extracted from the machine.
With the introduction of the internet being a relatively new phenomenon, the act of cyber espionage is not something that has been properly acknowledged by society. The American Government has done a stand up job of keeping its methods in the shadows and away from the eyes of its people since its documented domestic surveillance began on October 4th, 2001; Twenty three days after the Twin Towers fell President George Bush signed an order to begin a secret domestic eavesdropping operation, an operation which was so sensitive that even many of the country's senior national security officials with the...
Espionage is an occupation and activity that is carried out by agents who have different ...
Homeland security entities are proactive in the fight against terrorism on American soil. Their mandate is to collect information relating to potential attacks and analyze it to find a solution to the danger. With this in mind, these entities employ numerous spying techniques to collect intelligence for safeguarding of the nation. Homeland security entities have spies in almost all the countries in the world, especially those that show aggression towards America. The main aim of these spies is to carry out espionage to determine threat levels and find ways of neutralizing threats (Randol, 2009). This involves deployment of secret agents to areas or countries that exhibit terrorism activity in a bid to collect information. The spies interact with local people and members of terrorist groups using aliases that enable them conceal their identities.
It is difficult to define cyberculture because its boundaries are uncertain and applications to certain circumstances can often be disputed. The common threads of defining cyberculture is a culture which has evolved and continues to evolve from the use of computer networks and the internet and is guided by social and cultural movements reflective of advancements in scientific and technological information. It is not a unified culture but rather a culture that exists in cyberspace and is a compilation of numerous new technologies and capabilities, used by diverse people in diverse real – world locations. Cyberculture, a twentieth century phenomena, has brought challenges unlike any other that the United States has seen in the areas of cyber security and its impact on our most critical institutions. This presentation will focus on the aforementioned three entities where national security is in jeopardy in part due to cyberculture and its intentional use for disruptive and destructive purposes. Breaches of security to the United States Department of Defense, the national power grid and the Chamber of Commerce are very real and omnipresent.
... have to be surreptitious since much information is readily available i.e. the internet. Firms and individuals can also simply request for general information through the phone or e-mail or even approach foreign companies as potential business partners in hopes of gaining access through business relationships.58 Corporate espionage is undoubtedly a growing threat for organizations and not much can be done since intellectual property is intangible. The best proven weapon against this cybercrime is to protect information assets well since an organization with a responsible attitude towards information security and proactive measures to implement it will find its forts strongly built.59 To quote Sun Tzu: “The ultimate in disposing one’s troops is to be without ascertainable shape. Then the most penetrating spies cannot pry in nor can the wise lay plans against you.60
Roger Dingledine, Nick Mathewson, Paul Syverson. Tor: The Second-Generation Onion Router. Washington DC: Naval Research Lab, 2004.
Terrorism is a growing threat in modern times. Ultimately all activities need co-ordination and such co-ordination is facilitated by communication. Terrorist activities need communication as well as any other activity. In order to avoid getting traced, such communication can be done over secure lines on open public networks or hacked private networks.
The computer is considered one of the most important technological advances of the twentieth century. Security and privacy issues have been in existence long before the computer became a vital component of organizations' operations. Nevertheless, the operating features of a computer make it a double-edged sword. Computer technologies with reliable error detection and recording capabilities, permit the invasion of a supposedly secure environment to occur on a grand scale and go undetected. Furthermore, computer and communications technology permit the invasion of a persons' privacy and likewise go undetected. Two forces threaten privacy: one, the growth of information technology with its enhanced capacity for surveillance, communication, computation, storage and retrieval and two, the more insidious threat, the increased value of information in decision making. Information has become more vital in the competitive environment, thus, decision makers covet it even if it viol!
The CI has been a means to determine the presence of espionage by citizens of domestic as well as foreign countries. Whether the citizens are private or military has been rendered as immaterial for purposes specific to CI. The implementation of counterintelligence by either by acts of espionage from a citizen source acting on their own or via a government entity can either hurt or help a foreign country or a private citizen. Espionage by a government entity on another government entity via the infiltration of an agent network will likely be of benefit to the underlying national population and in contrast, should CI fall into the wrong hands, may be of potential danger to a underlying national population as well.
Espionage is the secret gathering of information on rival countries for military purposes. Espionage can be used in business, military, economic or political decisions however; it is commonly employed government for defensive tactics. Espionage or spying is illegal in many nations however, it gains profits from agencies to protect the secrecy of information that is desired.
The term “cyber terrorism” refers to the use of the Internet as a medium in which an attack can be launched such as hacking into electrical grids, security systems, and vital information networks. Over the past four decades, cyber terrorists have been using the Internet as an advanced communication tool in which to quickly spread and organize their members and resources. For instance, by using the instantaneous spread of information provided by the Internet, several terrorist’s groups have been able to quickly share information, coordinate attacks, spread propaganda, raise funds, and find new recruits for their cause. Instantaneous and unpredictable, the technological advantages these terrorists have obtained from using the Internet includes
A cyber-crime is an illegal activity that takes place on the computer or internet (Williams). Before the internet was invented criminals were stealing information from the computers committing data theft (VPN). The first major cyber-crime was in the 80s, criminals would send a lot of scams to the inbox of emails (VPN). Most of the scams included a desperate story hoping that someone would feel bad for them and send them money or they asked for bank card numbers in order to send them some money. Shortly after is when Congress passed a bill making it illegal (VPN). In the 90s the major cyber-crime was viruses (VPN). Viruses were sent through various websites and once opened the virus puts copies of itself into the computer without the owner knowing (Williams). Once the virus makes copies it slows the computer down, sends pop-ups to the computer screen, and can even shut the computer down (Williams). When social media became essential in the 2000s identity theft became a problem (VPN). People upload all of their information to their accounts giving all of the criminals’ easy access to all personal information (VPN). Every day someone makes a new Facebook profile of someone to scam them and steal information from their friends. Cybercrimes
It is asserted in another article Terrorist Use of the Internet: Information Operations in Cyberspace by Catherine A. Theohary and John Rollins. Both of them claimed that terrorists are using cyber space to dismantle different information operations through induction of fraudulent financial procedures, hacking and disinformation. They have argued that terrorist may use cyber space for the social and economic assistance. Moreover they have reviewed different American internet security agencies like DOD, FBI and NSA, and have devised that already many preliminary steps have been taken to combat cyber terrorism but they have stressed on the need of further planning of restricting the cyber warfare (Rollins and Theohary, 2011).
The world is in another cold war, except this time countries are battling for cyber supremacy. Cyberspace is a massive land of ever-changing technology and personal interaction (McGuffin and Mitchell 1). Cyberspace is not only a place where people post pictures and update their profile, but it also plays an enormous role in running a country. Advanced countries use computers to guide their military, keep track of citizens, run their power grids, and hold plans for nuclear devices and nuclear power. Risks to commercial and government concerns are now being noticed and many countries are taking actions to prevent such threats (McGuffin and Mitchell 1).
There are different groups, from law enforcement agencies to the U.S. Secret Service, that are attempting to combat the problem through cooperation and preemptive efforts. If these groups combined with the public to protect themselves and the country from criminals that commit cybercrime, the nation’s network and technology servers would be much safer for technology users. Clearly, cybercrime is a problem because it puts internet users at risk of being taken advantage of or harmed. The advantages of technology and the internet have led more criminals to use cyberspace to commit crimes. The threat of cybercrime is increasing as globalization continues to spread across the world.