Cyberwarfare and your take on it...

Hi all, this is a very concerning thing for me. Just got this from Reuters:

(Reuters) - Researchers have found evidence suggesting that the United States may have developed three previously unknown computer viruses for use in espionage operations or cyber warfare.

I knew this was going on, but it is getting more worrying all the time. Of course, I am just a naive computer-nerd, and I believe that the internet, and the social connectivity we get with it, should be a place to improve mankind, not wage war. I viewed cyberspace, much like outer space, as a place where humanity can forget about their differences, and make the world a better place for humanity. Now it is looking more and more as though cyberspace will be yet another place where we go around trying to destroy each other. Heck, is there any place where we can just live together, that all humanity can work together, to improve ourselves?

What is the point trying to destroy each other's infrastructures, etc???? Why can't the human race just live together in peace, instead of trying to use each invention as a tool of war?

sorry, in my anxiety, forgot to include the link:
www.reuters.com...

reply to post by Hellhound604

Wars are bad, we all agree on that, maybe with the exception of a few war mongers.

But wars happen for various reasons, and when they do, infrastructure is often one of the first targets after defenses. And if you're a military commander and you have two options to disable an enemy power plant:

option A of flipping a switch, or
option B of sending lots of planes into enemy territory to bomb a facility, which may get shot down and cost millions to replace, not to mention the pilots lives and all you spent training them,

which option sounds better? Flipping a switch has a certain appeal, I'm sure.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


You forgot to mention all the killed people in your option B

reply to post by Hellhound604


People forgot to S&F you so I did.

US is going into robotic and cyber warfare. Never see the enemy's face. Just warmongers sitting in a chair destroying parts of the World. That's our future, like it or not...

reply to post by Arbitrageur


Good post!

Its kind of ironic, but warfare has been "cleaning" itself in a sense. And cyberwarfare is the continuation of that trend. Its almost the holy grail of warfare. You can knock out a lot of a countries infrastucture without actualy physically destroying it. However, your target needs to be reliant on that infrastructure. And each country has a varying degree of reliance on infrastructure. It can be very powerful against industrialized nations, but when you look at countries like afghanistan, its not as useful. As weve seen in the recent middle east wars, large portions of the population are incredibly self sufficient compared to more western nations.

On the topic of the state sponsored virus's, one thing i found interesting about stuxnet was how precise it was. It infected a lot of computers, but was only concerned with finding a very precise variable reference. That variable happened to be what Seimens industrial technology used in a program that controlled a specific make/model of nuclear centrifuge. The ones that Iran happened to be using. As long as that reference didnt show up on the machine, the virus was harmless. That was from an article i read a while ago, so new information may have come to light since then.

listening to all your comments ... don't you think it makes going to war easier? It is easy sitting thousands of miles away, destroying another country... Yet, they would think twice about entering into a direct conflict. Cyberwarfare makes it easier not seeing the enemy face to face, easier not to think that they (the enemy) are humans just like the agressor... Doesn't that make cyberwarfare the war of the coward?

reply to post by Hellhound604


If the enemy has the same technology than you, and can do cyberwarfare, then no, it's not coward. But then, when you use drones to kill innocent people which can barely eat, that's downright revolting. It depends on what the enemy is: other robots, or human beings?

Originally posted by swan001
reply to post by Hellhound604

 

If the enemy has the same technology than you, and can do cyberwarfare, then no, it's not coward. But then, when you use drones to kill innocent people which can barely eat, that's downright revolting. It depends on what the enemy is: other robots, or human beings?

but who is the enemy? Is it the same type of people like you and me, that just wants to be left alone, and keep on living their normal lives, just being forced to do the way their rulers want them to act?

Just think about it.... do you really want a bunch of socially inept, mal-adjusted teenagers, to wage wars against other countries.... The same people you wouldn't have wanted in your armies just 5 years ago, and now you want them to wage wars for you against other countries... If so, don't complain when it backfires some years down the line. (Just think about it, who are the best with computers? Not the kids with a healthy social life, but the kids who have been rejected by society, the kids that have been bullied by their peers and adults, the kids that feels f*cked by society).....