The U.S. Department of Defense
has revealed that it is now spending $30 million to set up offensive
Cyber War operations in the army and air force. Two-thirds of the money
is being spent by the air force which has traditionally taken the lead
in Cyber War matters. The money is being spent mainly to buy hardware
for the hackers, as well as software tools.
Offensive Cyber War involves a lot more than just trying to
hack your way into specific enemy computers and networks. First you have
to find out what you are up against. This begins with mapping where
everything on enemy networks is. China was noted doing this back in 2005
and the mapping they were doing was a prerequisite to a major attack on
non-Chinese systems that is still underway.
After the initial mapping you select the best targets. This is
done by determining which systems yield the best impact (which ones
have the most valuable information and/or are the most vulnerable).
Then
you go in and collect more information on specific attacks on military
targets. After that you carry out the attacks.
The mapping is part of a military operation and the Chinese
know that. You have to assume they will respond to the mapping, which is
why the mapping is a constant process. Mapping is also done by
professional Internet criminals in preparation for their more mercenary
attacks (Internet fraud). Over the last decade Internet fraud has been
largely taken over by highly disciplined gangs, rather than lots of
individual hackers. The gangs are well organized, and have the resources
to carry out extensive mapping operations. Thus many periods of heavy
mapping activity is usually a prelude to major Internet based heists.
Even government and military sites are valuable targets for the Internet
hacking gangs, because valuable information can be sold on the black
market. Governments have been known to hire the gangs for specific jobs,
or simply let it be known on the black market (for data stolen by
hackers) that certain types of data held by some governments will fetch a
particularly high price.
The most valuable information in Cyber War offensive
operations is data from enemy hackers.
Stealing their tools and data
(especially mapping and target selection data) is the most valuable
prize of all. A lot of it is kept off line to prevent that, but one
function of mapping is to discover where someone may have screwed up and
left some valuable information available via the Internet.
Offensive Cyber War is a full time process, even when your
people are not actually trying to hack their way into an enemy site. The
Department of Defense announcement of the $30 million budget was
largely to build public support for these operations and ensure that the
money will keep coming.
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