Cybersecurity/Warfare

 Thomas White

The New Technological Age of Warfare

    Throughout this course, warfare was one of the most consequential and influential factors within the International system. As we learned, there’s an entire system of viewing international politics that says war is the most fundamental interaction between states or governmental bodies. This concept, known as realism, is one that I have previously discussed in a blog post, where I attempted to prove why it is an incorrect viewpoint for the 21st century. I discussed how in the modern age there is too much interaction between states that is not driven by war or seeking power. However, this post is meant to be an exercise in arguing the other side and in an atypical lens. Today, as social media has been skyrocketing to unprecedented and previously unimaginable heights, warfare has taken what may be a new look. Two examples of this are TikTok and the Russian SolarWinds hack on the US, both of which are different scenarios with different actors, but both reflect a similar reality. Warfare still drives the world today, however, we as a society are not socialized to be able to see this new style as warfare. 

    Over the last two years, and specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese app TikTok has blown up, having over 1 billion users as of 2021 (Wang). This app, as most of us probably know, is a way to create media through short videos, however, the algorithm is more important. This algorithm (which in today’s society is a meaningless buzzword sometimes) remembers users and what they are interested in, and secondarily, the data provided by videos of users’ faces are what is most dangerous for citizens. The gathering of video profiles allows for the creation of deep fakes, which can basically misrepresent an individual within a video. Then, hackers can change and edit what is said and done in a video, and put the victim's face on the new video. Potentially these deep fakes can be used to blackmail private citizens and also government officials. Typically not seeming like warfare, China’s ability to have control of the company that stores all of this data could potentially lead to threats against private Americans or mess with our political system, by extorting public servants (Knight).

    The next form of modern day warfare is cyber attacks. These come in a variety of forms, but most typical is ones caused by malware from foreign or non-state actors. The most recent and infamous attack was the SolarWinds hack, completed by what is believed to be hackers being influenced by the Russian government. As NPR puts it, “Last year, hackers… slipped a malicious code into a routine software update from a Texas- based company called SolarWinds. They then used it as a vehicle for a massive cyber-attack against America and successfully infiltrated Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and other companies, and federal agencies including the Treasury Department, Justice Department, Energy Department and the Pentagon” (Hale). Being able to control some of the software of these companies, access to passwords and data should be considered both highly dangerous and in my opinion an act of war. No longer simply espionage, access to this information threatens the lives of Americans and their safety as the Russians can control the power systems, oil, and the technology necessary for American jobs. An example of how powerful these hacks was the Russian government's hacking of the Ukraine’s power grid, “The result was one of the most dramatic attacks in Russia's years-long cyberwar against its western neighbor, an unprecedented, automated blackout across a broad swath of Ukraine's capital” (Greenberg). Now, after the SolarWinds attacks on the US government and American companies, security officials do not know the full extent of control the Russians have over American technology. Power is in the 21st century something that should be a human right, and Russia can now deny it from Americans, which is essentially as bad as denying them food or water (as seen in the power grid failures in Texas this year). 

    Overall, a major part of this class was discussing warfare, and I spent a blogpost explaining why warfare was an archaic way of viewing the world, especially global politics. However, I think that while maybe if I don’t agree with realism, it is important to realize that the definition of war does not necessarily have to be so narrow; instead things like social media and cyber warfare should be looked into more, especially their intergovernmental relationships.