In the cold war of the digital age The new frontline for governments is the internet. Keyboards and codes are now at the forefront instead of tanks and planes. Governments seek to gain cyber superiority by targeting key institutions and critical infrastructures of rival countries.

Who are the players in this secret war? Hacker groups and covert operation units. They are out of sight Movements that can change the balance on the world stage doing.

Every year, the US National Security Agency publishes a document entitled Worldwide Threat Assessment, which summarizes the biggest threats to national security.

Of cybersecurity first mentioned in 2011 but not much importance was attached to it. Just two years later it became the top threat and has maintained that position ever since.

All defense departments of nation states already are dedicated to combating cyber threats in case of. But some countries not only have defense, but also cyber attacks.

In 2010, a new strain of malware hit thousands of computers around the world. Stuxnet The worm, called , is designed to target Windows computers running SCADA software. SCADA developed by Siemens, It stands for Supervisory Control and Data Collection.

SCADA, checking electricity grids and was used to manage. The main goal of Stuxnet was to hijack the computers that control the power supply and systematically disable their PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers).

Stuxnet’s ultimate goal was Iran’s first nuclear enrichment facility, expected to open in October.

First of all, these facilities particularly well protected let’s say. They are not connected to the Internet in such a way that someone can simply download a virus. To enter the facility physically It had to be introduced.

500 kilobytes The worm was released in Iran and distributed to companies that design PLCs. One of these companies was Bepajo, an engineering firm geographically located around Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Due to some unfortunate coincidences, 3 employees discovered a virus that infected their computers. He carried it into the heart of the facility without realizing it. After a while, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency discovered that nuclear centrifuges were involved why so often He started to wonder if it was malfunctioning. There was a problem… And a problem that no one could understand.

Five months later, the computer security team started investigating why computers in Iran were going crazy.

What they encounter is Stuxnet, which may well be what the world has seen. It was the first digital weapon. However, before this worm got to work, it had already taken action and started disrupting the facility’s operations. In a few months, 328 centrifuges became waste. It was as if a sniper was taking aim at him one by one…

By November that number had risen to 984. Iran’s nuclear plans was seriously affected. It is still unknown how far the worm can actually go and what other surprises await it.

So The US and Israel took responsibility for this incident and accepted it. Officials announced that the program was first developed during the Bush administration and continued during the Obama administration.

One of the biggest events of the digital age happened in 2012, two years after the rise of Stuxnet.

A virus called “Shamoon” arrived on the scene and launched a hacking attack that shocked the world. This virus is the oil giant Saudi Aramco targeted and virtually paralyzed the company. Saudi Aramco does It supplies 10% of the world’s oil a gigantic company.

This attack During Ramadan, when most employees are on holiday took place and affected 35,000 computers, rendering them unusable. A burning American flag appeared on the computer screens.

Saudi Aramco computer technicians discovered the virus to prevent further spread He found the solution by taking computers offline. This event almost sent the company back to the Stone Age, with paper and pencil They started doing business.

Oil distribution resumed after 17 days, but the company went bankrupt caused a shortage of hard drives because they collected every disc they had.

To solve this attack, Saudi Aramco has hired an army of IT experts.

Five months after the attack, they brought their systems back online with much stronger cybersecurity measures. However Who is behind this attack? has never been established with certainty.

Then we jump to 2016 and oops! The political scene in America is heated. There is an election between Clinton and Trump, and everything is becoming more and more polarized. Clinton’s emails have been leaked and Russian hacker groups It turned out to be made by.

Nowadays to influence a country just a laptop and internet connection It may be enough. Cybersecurity threats are now on the radar not only of hackers, but also of nation states.

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