According to an article and blog post on msnbc.com, the UN was victim to one of the biggest cyber attacks ever discovered. It went on for five years, during which national secrets, source codes, databases, email archives and much more was compromised to an unidentified party. In March this year, McAfee discovered the intrusion and revealed its extent of over 72 victim organizations. As seen by the chart below, the U.S. was the largest country hit and the intrusion focused heavily on government agencies.
The extent and focus of the hack suggests that it was lead by a single nation. Many analysts in this case have pointed to China; however, there is no concrete evidence behind this suspicion. It is yet unknown what will happen to the enormous amount of secret information leaked but the thought that it is out there in foreign hands is an unnerving one. The U.N. is presently focusing on investigations and putting out a report.
The extent of these cyber attacks makes one question anyone’s security and privacy on the web and internet. Even though technology allows for communication across the world, it does not lead to more peaceful negotiations. Once the technology of cyber defenses allows for identifying the sources of cyber attacks, nations must come up with plans on how to deal with their adversaries. Even though in theory nations especially those on good terms should not feel the need to hide new knowledge, in reality each nation competes for wealth and power. The endless possibilities of hacking and spying in cyber space will create more and more tension internationally. As I see it, cyber attacks will lead to alarming altercations in the future.
Choney, Suzanne, U.S. Was Chief Target Of Cyber Attacks: McAfee. 3 Aug. 2011 Technolog. “MSNBC.com.”
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/03/7239686-us-was-chief-target-of-cyber-attacks-mcafee.
Finkle, Jim. Biggest-Ever Series of Cyber Attacks Uncovered, UN hit. 3 Aug. 2011. MSNBC.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43998147/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/biggest-ever-series-cyber-attacks-uncovered-un-hit/#.TqR9prJXXyB.
Interesting example and it raises one of the big questions. Are major powers like China carrying out a concerted program to develop cyberattack capabilities that they can use against other governments and even companies. Is this the new arms race and if so, what are we doing?
ReplyDeleteIt isn't clear to me if the attack mentioned here is the same as the Google attack
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43998147/ns/technology_and_science-security/t/biggest-ever-series-cyber-attacks-uncovered-un-hit/#.TqR9prJXXyB.
or yet another one.
No, this attack dubbed as "Operation Shady RAT" which focused on organizations within the U.N is different from the Google attack dubbed as "Operation Aurora." This operation involved a hack into personal Google email accounts as well as into Google's corporate infrastructure. The attack occurred in late 2009 and was revealed by Google in January 2010. In fact, other organizations such as Adobe and Yahoo were targeted by this attack as well. This Operation is also suspected to have come from China. This conflict resulted in interesting consequences - Google threatened to close its offices in China. I will make a point to address the implications of this attack in my next post.
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