War

 

Image from Pixabay

War will never be the same “thanks to” technological developments. This statement fits every era of world history. The catapult, the cannon, the poison gas, the tank, the bomber, the atomic bomb, the drone – all technology that has made and will continue to make its own pernicious contribution to warfare.

But of course I'm not going to talk about machine guns here, but about war ICT. It seems like a clean weapon: no blood, no deaths, no destroyed cities. Everything is purely digital, from one computer to another. Unfortunately, that is a much too optimistic picture. As if you let two computers play a game of chess and agree that the loser also immediately lost the war and that the owner of the winning computer can take the land of the loser, without encountering physical resistance or an angry population.

No, that's not how it works. Look, until the recent past, whoever controlled the skies was supreme. Today 'the cyber', as the military unfortunately like to call it, is the playing field on which you can suffer the greatest losses. This has everything to do with the fact that we have become so dependent on our computer networks. For generals in countries with well-developed offensive ICT capabilities, it's like a candy store: they can choose from opening floodgates, crippling communications, spreading disinformation and much more.

You can use ICT to weaken the enemy before switching to more conventional warfare. In eastern Europe, the lights went out under suspicious circumstances a few years ago. And now there are reports again that Russian state hackers have massively penetrated Ukraine's military networks, power supply networks and other critical systems. This could serve all kinds of different goals. Hacking an army is a clear, direct attack on a country's defensive capabilities. But a blackout, caused by hacking a power company, can also support a military action. The Washington Post recently ran an article on cyberwarfare, and that newspaper's slogan is: democracy dies in darkness. Although this slogan is undoubtedly intended to be a bit more philosophical, the literal meaning also fits in with the current era.

A good example of spreading misinformation is the text message that the ATMs in Ukraine would not work. The Ukrainian cyber police subsequently denied this, even though the machines were reportedly out of order at the time. You cannot get further information about this (non) event on the police website at this time, because that site itself is not available due to an attack… Anyway, if people can't access their money, they get nervous, so such a message can easily lead to social disruption.

Meanwhile, the Dutch government has offered assistance to Ukraine in the fight against cyber attacks. President Zelenksy certainly didn't jump for joy when Prime Minister Rutte of the Netherlands announced this offer at their joint press conference, but I think it is a creative, modern way to help a country. I suspect Zelensky doesn't quite understand the scope of this help. When executed properly, this can mean the difference between a sitting duck country and a country that can defend itself. The digital war may only serve to support the physical one, but it can make a difference.

In that light, it’s bad news that a Dutch server is involved in a cyber attack on Ukrainian banks and ministries. Rutte's helping hand and the company where that server is located have of course nothing to do with each other, but for the world the label 'Netherlands' is attached to both. “You offer to protect us and at the same time you attack us?” Meanwhile, the server in question has since been taken down at the request of the Dutch police.

As mentioned, the image of a clean cyber war is wrong. If sluice gates are opened or water purification is affected, this will indeed lead to casualties. And when reconnaissance satellites are knocked out to give the attacker a chance to roll his tanks into a country undetected, blood will spill as soon as the first shot is fired. No, like all forms of war, cyber war is ultimately dirty, barbaric and unworthy of man.

This blog post has been translated from Dutch to English by Google and edited by the author.

 

And in the big bad world…

This section contains a selection of news articles I came across in the past week. Because the original version of this blog post is aimed at readers in the Netherlands, it contains some links to articles in Dutch. Where no language is indicated, the article is in English.

… the Russians probably hacked all kinds of systems in Ukraine.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/15/russia-ukraine-cyber-attacks/

… a server on Dutch soil was involved. [IN DUTCH]
https://www.bnr.nl/nieuws/technologie/10467810/nederlandse-server-beakte-bij-cyber attack-oekraine-offline-bedrijf-hostte-eerder-extreemrechtse-vizier-op-links

... of course, state hackers are targeting the defense industry.
https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/alerts/aa22-047a

… criminals assume the identity of the public health service to carry out their evil plans. [IN DUTCH]
https://ggdghor.nl/actueel-bericht/valse-mail/

… the Microsoft cloud faced the largest DDoS attack to date.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/01/microsoft-fends-off-record-breaking-3-47-tbps-ddos-attack/

… it is not useful at all to steal cryptocurrencies. [IN DUTCH]
https://blog.iusmentis.com/2022/02/15/is-crypto-en-bitcoin-well-suitable-for-criminals-of-niet/

… the German hackers' club CCC has found a lot of personal data, including at our Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. [IN DUTCH]
https://tweakers.net/nieuws/193238/hackersclub-ccc-vindt-6-komma-4-mljoen-informatie-via-vijftigtal-datalek.html

… the Belgian privacy supervisor believes that a commonly used system for cookie pop-ups is in violation of the GDPR. [IN DUTCH]
https://blog.iusmentis.com/2022/02/08/supervisor-cookiepop-ups-advertising-industry-in-conflict-met-avg/

… Microsoft Office is now stricter on macros.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/7/22922032/microsoft-block-office-vba-macros-default-change

… you would do well to only accept new friends on LinkedIn that you already know from real life. [IN DUTCH]
https://tweakers.net/nieuws/192926/spionnen-leggen-via-linkedin-contact-met-nederlandse-werkers-techbedrijven.html

… European privacy regulators are investigating the use of the cloud by governments. [IN DUTCH]
https://autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/nl/nieuws/privacytoezichthouders-onderzoeken- Use-clouddiensten-door-overheidsbedrijven

… the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations makes the use of the Logius cloud mandatory. [IN DUTCH]
https://www.logius.nl/actueel/ Standaard-platform-eerste-keus-voor-ontdeveloped-en-hosten-van-bzk-diensten