From the Cold War to the code war

Government agencies are being attacked up to 33,000 times a month

by cyber terrorist networks

Musa Khan Jalalzai

September 03, 2014
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The recent reports and official warnings by the UK government about the
intensifying threat of cyber terrorism in the print and electronic media
prompted torment and cheerlessness in investment and business firms
across the country. Cyber security organisations are desperately seeking
ways to counter it effectively while private business firms are looking towards
the most trusted intelligence agency, the Government Communication
Headquarters (GCHQ) for a precursor action against the clandestine networks
of hackers and cyber jihadists. As we are being told about the sensitivity of
this violent security threat, our intelligence agencies are also restive and
anxious about the day-to-day changing mechanism of cyber terrorist groups.
The recent violent attacks on the Home Office, Foreign Office, private
industry and market economy forced the GCHQ to request cyber technology
experts for help in preventing these exacerbating attacks.
The countrys Emergency Response Team (ERT) is in hot water as it failed to
respond positively. As part of a 650 million government investment in
countering cyber terrorism, the unit has the core responsibility to respond to
the looming threat of economic jihadists more effectively. Government
officials in their statements warned government and private firms time and
again that Russian, Chinese, Indian and North Korean cyber armies use
modern technologies to steal important data. The Cameron government is in
deep water and is unable to challenge the hidden enemy with a strong
resolve. His government has spent billions of pounds to counter cyber armies
in a professional way but no specific achievement has been made so for. The
reaction of law enforcement agencies, private cyber firms and the GCHQ is
confined to circumventive narratives and are unable to satisfy business
communities.
Government agencies are being attacked up to 33,000 times a month by
cyber terrorist networks. For public gratification, the GCHQ told the media

that the agency was struggling to recruit more people into the cyber security
field while the country is at risk of being left behind and at a disadvantage
globally. The UK asks that, being a member state of the Eye-Five
intelligence alliance, which has developed the strongest surveillance
mechanism, why has it failed to respond to this violent threat effectively?
Every year, the Cameron government highlights cyber terrorism as one of its
priorities alongside international terrorism but its forces still need to be
adorned with modern technology. When the crises deepened, Prime Minister
David Cameron announced a 1.1 billion investment in a military
programme to tackle these modern threats posed by global terrorism and
economic jihadists.
This money will mostly be used to pay for new hi-tech surveillance and
intelligence gathering equipment. Recently, the head of counter terrorism in
the Metropolitan Police Department, Mark Rowley, appealed to the public for
help in identifying jihadist terrorists in communities. Terror-related incidents
have increased fivefold. The growth of dangerous individuals poses
challenges for policing, especially when nearly half of Syria travellers of
concern were not known as terrorist risks previously, Rowley revealed.
In 2013, NATO responded to this economic jihad in the case of the
Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre for Excellence and published a 330-page
report that prompted reaction from Russia. The document was called Tallinn
Manual of Cyber Warfare. The manuals biggest section is devoted to cyber
attacks that accompany traditional armed conflicts. In March 2014, NATO and
its allies experienced cyber attacks on a large scale while the Syrian
Electronic Army (SEA) announced on Twitter that it had successfully hacked
into the networks of CENTCOM that oversees US military operations from
Turkey to Afghanistan as well as Pacific Command. In Afghanistan,
underground cyber strategic commands have established strong networks
and retrieve the US, NATO, UK and ISAFs military and operational plans
through their cyber warriors easily. They have trained their partners who
work for them and purvey top secret military and intelligence information to
their cyber commands. The attacks of Chinese and Russian cyber
commandos on NATO computers and the leakage of their military secrets
have raised serious questions. As the cyber war has intensified in Asia and
Europe, Russia, China and India have started relying on cyber jihadists to
reach the data of UK and US technological aggrandisement. They spend
billions of dollars on modernising their cyber armies every year. Recently, the
GCHQ launched an online game in a bid to find the cyber defence talent of
the future but this game cannot help our agencies in countering these
technologically adorned forces with poor strategies and recruitment.
By 2017, the defence ministry of Russia is planning to complete the
formation of a special cyber security force designed to protect its armed
forces networks. This plan is a part of the countrys programme to
modernise its information security. A report from Moscow has also revealed

that Russian military forces are planning to begin setting up cyber warfare
forces for both defence and cyber attacks. The command of this force will be
headed by an army general. The Russian media continues to publish news
stories about the digitisation of the countrys armed forces to compete with
US and NATO allies forces in Asia and Europe. The need for a cyber defence
shield has been prompted by the armed forces transition to new types of
weapons with a high share of digital components.
The Russian government has kept secret all details about the future of its
cyber defence force. According to recent reports in the Russian media, this
defence force will have different levels of technical, cryptographic and radioelectronic security duplicating each other and protecting strategic defence
facilities. The UK government is planning to spend more funds on its cyber
defence as a recent report has warned about possible cyber attacks on
national critical infrastructure. The prime minister is committed to spending
more money on intelligence and surveillance equipment that includes cyber
defence technology. Terrorism in cyber space is increasingly considered as
one of the most violent acts against the countrys financial sectors. Cyber
jihad is an increasing threat to investment and business communities in the
UK.