Cyber Warfare

After ensuring that its people are only able to access ‘filtered’ news, the Chinese leadership has also decided to refurbish its image abroad through a major public relations effort.

• R. S. Kalha
• December 19, 2011
• IDSA Comments

The Chinese cyber warfare department’s multiple agencies and individuals are seriously working towards the overall objective of instantly disrupting or at least weakening the adversary’s computer networks so as to paralyse his decision making capability at the very commencement of hostilities. It is very difficult to protect networks from such attacks. The weakest link in cyber security measures are the persons operating the system who often, knowingly or unknowingly, default on cyber security measures.

• Deepak Sharma
• April 2011
• Journal of Defence Studies

Even though the report is fairly cautious in what it says and does not highlight anything new, the reactions on the Chinese side have not been that positive.

• Gunjan Singh
• August 26, 2010
• IDSA Comments

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) considers active offence to be the most important requirement for information warfare to destroy or disrupt an adversary's capability to receive and process data. Launched mainly by remote combat and covert methods, the PLA could employ information warfare pre-emptively to gain the initiative in a crisis.

• Deepak Sharma
• April 2010
• Journal of Defence Studies

The last couple of decades have seen a colossal change in terms of the influence that computers can have on the battlefield, with defence pundits claiming it to be the dawn of a new era in warfare. Under these circumstances, there has been a gradual paradigm shift in military thinking and strategies from the strategic aspect to the tactical aspect of cyber warfare, laying more emphasis on it being a potent force multiplier. The author believes this is wrong and rather than cyber warfare being an enhancement of traditional operations, the latter will be force multipliers of cyber warfare.

• Amit Sharma
• March 2010
• Strategic Analysis

The Internet’s blurred boundaries and its existing vulnerabilities have led to unhealthy trends, which, if not addressed adequately, could pose severe problems.

• Cherian Samuel
• December 31, 2009
• IDSA Comments

China will develop much greater depth and sophistication in its understanding and handling of information warfare techniques and operations. With Indian security becoming increasingly dependent on date processing and network centricity, it will become extremely vulnerable to such information warfare campaigns. India needs to adopt a multidisciplinary approach towards dealing with the emerging cyber warfare threats and develop appropriate response.

• Gurmeet Kanwal
• July 2009
• Journal of Defence Studies

• Subimal Bhattacharjee
• March 2009
• Strategic Analysis

Georgia was a constituent republic of the former USSR. In 1991, the dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the independence of Georgia. In turn, the autonomous regions of Georgia, namely South Ossetia and Abkhazia, attempted to break away from Georgia, resulting in civil strife in the early Nineties. These conflicts were settled with Russian involvement with the United Nations Mission in Georgia deploying in a peacekeeping role in Abkhazia and a Russian peacekeeping force deploying under a Joint Control Commission in South Ossetia.

• Ali Ahmed
• September 25, 2008
• IDSA Comments

In 2007 Chinese hackers gained notoriety in the US after a series of cyber intrusions, including one involving Pentagon systems. Though China denies involvement and the US is reluctant to make it public, the reason for suspecting China stems from the history of Chinese hacking since 2001, when a Chinese hacker community, Honker Union, declared cyber war on US government and business. Since then, there has been a series of Chinese hacking operations.

• Hayoun Ryou
• January 22, 2008
• IDSA Comments