What is interesting to note in Estonia’s case is that the Internet itself is their critical infrastructure. Therefore the attackers did not need to target the traditional SCADA systems in order to create havoc to Estonia’s critical infrastructure and its economy.
Despite some claims that these attacks are
the first case of Cyber Warfare, this is not necessarily the case;
1. The United States has admitted to using Cyber Warfare in the Kosovo conflict
2. China has been accused of concerted attacks against US government systems, otherwise known as
Titan Rain
3. In 2005 the UK NISCC stated that
foreign powers are the main cyber threat to the UK’s critical network infrastructure.
4. Regional conflicts such as those between India and Pakistan and the Israeli-Palistinian conflict have also led to online attacks against each other.
Whether or not the attacks were state sponsored or the work of activists, they highlight that Botnets are moving up the food chain from being spam distribution agents and may now be considered Cyber Weapons of Mass Destruction. Will these Botnets become the equivalent of the nuclear deterrent from the Cold War?
We may never see a digital Pearl Harbor,
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