TITLE:

Cyberwar: M.A.D 2.0- Summary

SUBJECT:
E-Commerce
GROUP MEMBERS:
Name Registration No.
Ahmed Amin FA16/BBA/116
Sifatullah Hussani FA16/BBA/435
Mohammad Ibrahim FA16/BBA/416

SUBMITTED TO:
Sir Haroon Rashid

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

COMSATS UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD, LAHORE CAMPUS
Cyberwar: MAD 2.0 – Summary

Earlier, people and nations used to engage themselves in physical wars and fought against each
other physically using weapons respective to the era they were in. But introduction to computers,
software, codes etc. for the automation for purposes, by the nations has given birth to new type of
warfare called the cyberwar. Cyberwar refers to the war in cyberspace, a battlefield where nations
and corporations fight against each to protect their ability to perform the functions that they
perform, intellectual property and confidential information; and offend those of rivals. Similar to
traditional warfare, cyberwar involves ‘weapons’ consisting of algorithms and codes that can
affect. Cyberattacks are so perilous that nations have decided to engage themselves in treaties
(such as MAD) to assure one another’s protection. In case any one member attacks, the aggrieved
nation can attack in such a powerful manner that it can cause the damaging nation to perish by
destroying its cyber infrastructure. Hence, both the nation can get damaged.

Just like physical wars, powerful nations nowadays are preparing for cyberwars with help of
cyberwar games. Another threatening fact about cyberwar is that it inexpensive, allowing smaller
nations to engage in too. The top countries practicing for cyberwars are developing cyberarsenals
including malwares for affecting military, industrial and civilian infrastructure controllers. These
weapons are ready to go.

Moreover, many nations and corporations are involved in cyberattacking the information systems,
to incapacitate the systems of the target nation or corporation and extract the confidential
information to expose them. For example, the cyberattack on U.S by the suspected Chinese
government; hack of Sony pictures’ computer systems revealing sensitive information.

There can be attacks against physical infrastructures but they are less frequent and require more
tactics to perform. For attacking physical infrastructure, detailed information about the
infrastructure is required, usually through computers that control valves and machines in the
infrastructure. There were a few well known infrastructure attacks conducted in the past i.e.
Stuxnet, a malware virus by Israeli and American intelligence against controller modules of
Inranian nuclear centrifuge: Shamoon, a malware against Saudi Aramco company: Snake, a
malware that gives the cyber attackers access to target systems and gives a path to install additional
malwares, Flame, a malware which was rumored to cause Iran to disconnect its oil terminals from
the internet.

According to analysts U.S is the has the most powerful weapons, which U.S military Department
of Defense claims shall be used for the purpose of defense and counterattack only. Companies are
meant to protect their systems all by themselves but an attack on U.S’ government systems and
other systems may result in a devastating counterattack on the attacking country causing loss of
life, destruction of property and lasting economic loss. This policy was aimed at U.S’ greatest
competitors i.e. Russia, China, Iran and North Korea