14 DAY TRIAL // In an article he wrote about cyber war and the “tools” that fuel it, F-Secure’s Chief Research Officer Mikko Hypponen highlights the impact of Stuxnet, the now-infamous Trojan, on the threat landscape and the way it influenced the cyber arms race.
Currently, Stuxnet no longer represents a threat, but before security firms identified it and before researchers could analyze it, the malware performed many of the tasks for which it was created.
Hypponen explains that the nuclear program of a certain country can be disrupted in several ways, but when diplomatic and military methods don’t work, a tool such as Stuxnet could be highly efficient.
“Stuxnet was obviously a game changer. But what does it mean in the long term? I think we are now seeing the very first steps of a new arms race: The cyber arms race,” the expert said.
“Just like modern hi-tech research revolutionized military operations over the last 50 years, we are going to see a new revolution, focusing on information operations and cyber warfare. This revolution is underway and it's happening right now,” he added.
So far, we haven’t witnessed any wars between countries with advanced offensive cyber capabilities, but Hypponen believes that a “cyber component” will surely exist in future warfare.
One interesting thing he highlights is the fact that cyberwar doesn’t necessarily involve the Internet. That’s because most of the critical infrastructures that would become targets during a cyberwar are not connected to public networks.
“The main point of any arms race is to let your adversaries know about your capabilities so they don't even think about starting a fight,” he revealed.
While we don’t know much about cyber defense technologies, we shouldn’t be surprised if in the upcoming period nations will start demonstrating their cyberattack capabilities, similar to how they’re currently showing off tanks and fighter jets.