Do you know the difference between Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage?
Published reports about foreign hackers attacking major organizations should not be mistaken for cyber warfare. These attacks are acts of cyber espionage. CYBER ESPIONAGE unfolds over months or years. CYBER WARFARE is different. The attack is usually quick, with strikes occurring within seconds and causing damage which leads to other objectives. Cyber warfare is fighting on an electronic battlefield with digital weapons. It entails attacking an adversary’s capabilities in an effort to destroy or disable their ability to get things done.
Cyber warfare attacks are completely digital in nature. Attacks are aimed communication systems, information systems or the electronics that monitor/control physical infrastructure (power and water systems). Cyber espionage is obtaining secret information from an adversary and using that information to gain some strategic advantage. If the information gathered does not have a special value, it is useless.
Adversaries may use information gathered via cyber espionage to gain financial or competitive advantages in the business world or strategic advantage over political communities of conflict. Cyber espionage is routinely a precursor to a Cyber warfare strike. A cyber espionage event allows an adversary to do reconnaissance before an all-out Cyber warfare attack. This is similar to the military sending out a recon patrol to disable an enemy’s capabilities before a major attack or sending a spy into the enemy territory to gather Intel before the strike.
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Security First & Associates