The emergence of Cyberspace, resulting from the exponential growth of communication and information technology, has presented the humankind with a wide range of benefits and created new growth opportunities. Businesses, governments, individuals, and society at large have tied their future to information technologies. Activities carried out in cyberspace, most of which are drivers of economic development, have become integral to our daily life. On the other hand, cyberspace has created a unique set of challenges including cyber-security, cyber-terror, and cyber-crime. Activities in the cyberspace are under constant attack from hostile states, terrorists, criminals, and other malevolent actors.
Cyber threats present a deep and broad challenge to modern society. Over the past few years, we have seen some states like North Korea engage in destructive cyber-attacks, like the one on movie giant Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014. It is widely believed that North Korea was responsible for the massive hack as it intended to view ‘The Interview’, a satirical film about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong (Haggard & Lindsay, 2015). The attack was one of the biggest known corporate hacking in modern times and served as a learning experience to the rest of the world that cyber-attack is one of the greatest global threats.
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Cyber attackers have invented sophisticated hacking techniques that are known to be highly effective. One of these techniques is malware which is a form of harmful software that is capable of taking control of an organization’s computer system, monitor the actions and keystrokes of the users, and send all sorts of confidential information from the company’s computer system to the home base of the attacker. Some of the most complex malware discovered over the past decade include Stuxnet and Flame Malware (Goyal et al., 2012). Stuxnet functions by targeting industrial control systems, collecting information and causing substantial damage to the program. Flame, on the other hand, is a sophisticated malware that has a distinct functionality of monitoring keyboard activities and network traffic as well as recording audio and screenshots.
Another case for cyber-war in the modern times is WikiLeaks, the online anti-secrecy organization that helps whistle-blowers publish secret information, leaked data as well as classified documents. It has been heavily criticized for putting the lives of staff in sensitive positions at risk and ruining diplomatic relations. For instance, in 2016, the organization is said to have influenced the US elections. It is alleged that Russia hacked the DNC computer systems and passed its e-mails to WikiLeaks.
Some ethical standards need to be employed to address these issues. First, the international community needs to develop principles to protect individuals and organizations from the potential invasion of private information. The policies would establish norms of acceptable and unacceptable behavior in cyberspace. Nations should also join hands to invest in information-sharing, counterintelligence, and attribution capabilities to enable them to identify criminals and hostile states that violate the set principles (Shackelford & Andres, 2016). Credible and effective retaliatory measures should also be put in place to ensure that nations such as North Korea that engage in destructive cyber-attacks are dealt with by the set standards. In addition, governments should clarify the kind of protection they stand to offer to private firms in the event of a cyber-attack and the security measures firms need to put in place to avoid moral hazard problems. This will ensure that countries such as the United States can offer adequate protection to their private firms from cyber-attacks organized by hostile states such as North Korea and Russia.
Reference
Goyal, R., Sharma, S., Bevinakoppa, S., & Watters, P. (2012). Obfuscation of Stuxnet and Flame malware. Latest Trends in Applied Informatics and Computing, 150-54.
Haggard, S., & Lindsay, J. R. (2015). North Korea and the Sony Hack: exporting instability through cyberspace.
Shackelford, S. J., & Andres, R. B. (2016). State Responsibility for Cyber Attacks: Competing Standards for a Growing Problem. Geo. J. Int'l L., 42, 971.
