Maroc - EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 29/Sep 22:55

Dystopian Cyber Warfare In The Middle East – OpEd

How do you fight an enemy who is faceless, someone you cannot see, much less, hear or touch; an enemy who utilizes the society’s technological infrastructure as a weapons platform? In the latest and most terrifying cyber offensive, Israel’s sophisticated attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon, which left scores dead and thousands injured, has thrown the region into disarray and raises a grave question: Could it be that cyberspace has now become the battleground with conventional norms and laws of warfare ignored and off-limits? This attack is not only an attack on Hezbollah but on Lebanon and its sovereignty, a clear disregard of those who seek to shield their innocent lives from the ravages of war. In an operation orchestrated by Mossad and Israel’s military, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies – devices that have for a long time been relied on regarding secure communication – were blown up remotely. These were not all fighters; they were people – men, women, children, ordinary folks who were thrown into a murderous game of video tic-tac. This is the new way that conflicts may not need troops on the ground, drones soaring in the sky, or missiles trained on targets. Rather, by a few clicks, a hacker many miles away can wreak havoc than an army and cross borders. Contemporary military plans across the globe are required to factor this grim scenario in: cyber warfare that can paralyze states and nations without the firing of a single shot. They would be able to shake economies, make critical infrastructures irrelevant, and disrupt the societies. This is war without confines, without people in uniform. While Israel has conducted cyber strikes in the past, this attack is qualitatively different and more extensive than previous ones. What earlier required the hacking of one machine now means the hacking of thousands of them or simply; it has become much more delicate. Israel’s cyber-attack wasn’t just against a terrorist organization—it was on the very idea of civilian technology, a dark maneuver that proves even the piece of equipment can murder. This is a catastrophe that has serious consequences for security on the international level, especially taking into account that supply chains are fragile. Organizations on their part are already rushing to protect their hardware while users of new products are left wondering whether their gadgets are as secure as they should be. It is not unique to the Middle Eastern region – but this attack exemplifies a new direction in Israel’s military strategy – which is to consider cyberspace as another maneuver theatre. Recent attacks on civilians in Lebanon indicate that ‘shock and awe’ Israeli cyber operations are not making a distinction between combatant and non-combatant. The citizens of Lebanon – inflicted with the economic and political crisis – were again deprived of their right and subjected to the violation of the country’s sovereignty. The cyber-attack has left Hezbollah exposed and strategic shortcomings of their communication system have been exposed. This was especially assuming that the group was hard to penetrate since it relied on pagers and not smartphones, which are believed to be easy to hack into. When operatives thought they were using supposedly tamper-proof pagers, the synchronized blasting of these communication devices for the Hezbollah jeopardized both its security and morale. This kind of attack not only reveals the weak points of such organizations as Hezbollah but shows how interdependent the world has grown. Even such an item of communication technology as a pager can become a lethal weapon. And what of the future? Municipalities’ electrical networks, transport, stock Exchanges all at risk of a digital attack. If this is the new frontier of warfare, then future wars will not be fought in the skies and on ground, on sea and in water – the wars will be fought in uncharted territory which is cyberspace. The growing global trend now poses questions for the global community to answer. The cyber-attacks on Lebanon by Israel is a current event, but they won’t be the last, having potential for mass disruption, civilian casualties, and uncontrollable escalation exists. Cyberwarfare currently defines the military planning and policy-making domain. The future of warfare lies not in tanks or missiles, but in the hands of those who control cyberspace. From a military point of view this operation was multifaceted, secretive, and unconventional with the element of plausible deniability. These operations create a new war frontier in which the target country or an organization can lose many of its people through the covert weaponization of ordinary devices. Earlier it was described as being non-kinetic and non-contact warfare whose execution was aimed at the disconnection of other networks, data theft or propaganda and such. However, the new form of attack from the onset raises a kinetic dimension and contact element where new cyber operations lead to physical impact or destruction. The last few days will go down in the annals of war for blurring of the classified cyber wars and the conventional warfare, opening a deadly new dimension of cyber war, and integration of the internet of things and connected items and structures in military and civil facilities as these can also be used as soft operational targets by the hackers. This will increase the number of targets that can be attacked by the military through the citizens and infrastructure through their smart gadgets. The front lines could be anywhere from the battlefield to homes, to occupants and even, mobile communication networks. These actions also raise questions about the ethics and admissibility of these operations because similar gadgets can reach many people not having a connection with militant organizations. The UNSC appears to be debating it now having not come up with any worthwhile rules governing cyber and related warfare so far. Kinetic cyber-attacks mean that an operation in the cyber domain as a theatre of conflict is no less ominous and crucial than any other. As the outcome of probable deniability, kinetic cyber operations will become the new and potent force multiplier of future warfare.