Information as a weapon of warfare
Friday, 6 January 2012
Syed Mansur Hashim
Were we to believe the internet-generated news, then gathering of intelligence in 'real time' in troubled hot spots like Syria will become a child's play. Admittedly, the World Wide Web or the 'internet' (as it is known in common parlance) has had a profound impact on our daily lives. We simply cannot do without it. It serves as the fastest and most convenient means of exchanging information and conducting research on every conceivable subject. The internet has opened up global communications and revolutionised the way we conduct business and trade in a manner hitherto unknown.
Yet, when news of 'shadow networks' emerges and gets reported by respected media outlets, there is no choice but to have a second look at this surreptitious new technology, supposedly being developed by a $2 million grant from a federal agency. The end product, if we are to believe what has been reported in the New York Times fills a standard looking suitcase with enough punch to "allow wireless communication over a wide area with a link to the global internet". That is not all. Apparently considerable resources, both in man hours and finances are being poured into creating technology that could, in effect, create parallel, encrypted wireless networks in hostile territory, such as Syria or North Korea, whereby dissident groups, individuals or foreign operatives for that matter, could have a secure line of communication with the outside world without much fear of interception.
Anonymity and security tools, encryption software have been available for free public use for some years now. However, the ball game changes entirely with States getting involved in the reception of the technology that is available commercially and putting it on a spin using government resources. Although the advantages are obvious for all to see, there remain a lot of concerns on the direct and indirect consequences of deploying such disruptive technology in the field. Troubled spots in the international arena can be found dime-a-dozen. Syria is reaching a critical point in the Middle East, there is North Korea on the Asia Pacific rim, Afghanistan in central Asia and of course, there are numerous troubled States in the African heartland.
While employment of 'shadow networks' would inevitably be most advantageous to the agency or State employing such methods in its foreign operations - minimising human casualty, protecting human assets buried deep in a hostile government, critically reducing the ability of repressive governments' ability to conduct operations, etc.; there remains downsides to the numerous upsides mentioned thus far.
One of the most prominent problems is, as it always has been, that this is not proprietary technology, i.e. others can play the game too and rather effectively at that. The BBC reported in second quarter of last year that researchers had uncovered, what they believed to be a 'shadow network' involved in wide-ranging espionage activities targeting specific "government, business, and academic computers at the United Nations and the Embassy of Pakistan in the US, among others. It was used to steal at least 1,500 emails from the office of the Dalai Lama." Apparently, the source was tracked down to a specific location in China. Whether it could be irrefutably proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Peoples' Republic of China was behind this remains a debatable subject, but the point is that the technology in question is not proprietary in nature and that governments around the world with access to sufficient financial resources could develop a capability.
In fact, reports have been surfacing off and on over the last couple of years of other shadowy networks, like the 'GhostNet'. What investigators found was mind-boggling. This network had managed to compromise nearly 1,300 computers in over a hundred countries. Government communiqué and various documents and electronic messages that were held to be confidential in nature by various governments and agencies had been tapped.
All these point to a concerted effort by different agencies or groups of individuals belonging to more than one country playing a game of tit-for-tat to gather intelligence for purposes unknown. The bigger question in this game of 'zeros' and 'ones' concerns who maintains a watch over how this technology is implemented in the field. Unless, strict policy measures are in place to monitor and authorise its use, the results could very well spin out of control. And while we may advocate for the establishment of democracy in dictatorial countries where societies are repressed en masse, one must be cautious in opening the Pandora's Box, for it is impossible to fully comprehend what such hi-tech tools will unleash in an already much-troubled world.
Were we to believe the internet-generated news, then gathering of intelligence in 'real time' in troubled hot spots like Syria will become a child's play. Admittedly, the World Wide Web or the 'internet' (as it is known in common parlance) has had a profound impact on our daily lives. We simply cannot do without it. It serves as the fastest and most convenient means of exchanging information and conducting research on every conceivable subject. The internet has opened up global communications and revolutionised the way we conduct business and trade in a manner hitherto unknown.
Yet, when news of 'shadow networks' emerges and gets reported by respected media outlets, there is no choice but to have a second look at this surreptitious new technology, supposedly being developed by a $2 million grant from a federal agency. The end product, if we are to believe what has been reported in the New York Times fills a standard looking suitcase with enough punch to "allow wireless communication over a wide area with a link to the global internet". That is not all. Apparently considerable resources, both in man hours and finances are being poured into creating technology that could, in effect, create parallel, encrypted wireless networks in hostile territory, such as Syria or North Korea, whereby dissident groups, individuals or foreign operatives for that matter, could have a secure line of communication with the outside world without much fear of interception.
Anonymity and security tools, encryption software have been available for free public use for some years now. However, the ball game changes entirely with States getting involved in the reception of the technology that is available commercially and putting it on a spin using government resources. Although the advantages are obvious for all to see, there remain a lot of concerns on the direct and indirect consequences of deploying such disruptive technology in the field. Troubled spots in the international arena can be found dime-a-dozen. Syria is reaching a critical point in the Middle East, there is North Korea on the Asia Pacific rim, Afghanistan in central Asia and of course, there are numerous troubled States in the African heartland.
While employment of 'shadow networks' would inevitably be most advantageous to the agency or State employing such methods in its foreign operations - minimising human casualty, protecting human assets buried deep in a hostile government, critically reducing the ability of repressive governments' ability to conduct operations, etc.; there remains downsides to the numerous upsides mentioned thus far.
One of the most prominent problems is, as it always has been, that this is not proprietary technology, i.e. others can play the game too and rather effectively at that. The BBC reported in second quarter of last year that researchers had uncovered, what they believed to be a 'shadow network' involved in wide-ranging espionage activities targeting specific "government, business, and academic computers at the United Nations and the Embassy of Pakistan in the US, among others. It was used to steal at least 1,500 emails from the office of the Dalai Lama." Apparently, the source was tracked down to a specific location in China. Whether it could be irrefutably proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Peoples' Republic of China was behind this remains a debatable subject, but the point is that the technology in question is not proprietary in nature and that governments around the world with access to sufficient financial resources could develop a capability.
In fact, reports have been surfacing off and on over the last couple of years of other shadowy networks, like the 'GhostNet'. What investigators found was mind-boggling. This network had managed to compromise nearly 1,300 computers in over a hundred countries. Government communiqué and various documents and electronic messages that were held to be confidential in nature by various governments and agencies had been tapped.
All these point to a concerted effort by different agencies or groups of individuals belonging to more than one country playing a game of tit-for-tat to gather intelligence for purposes unknown. The bigger question in this game of 'zeros' and 'ones' concerns who maintains a watch over how this technology is implemented in the field. Unless, strict policy measures are in place to monitor and authorise its use, the results could very well spin out of control. And while we may advocate for the establishment of democracy in dictatorial countries where societies are repressed en masse, one must be cautious in opening the Pandora's Box, for it is impossible to fully comprehend what such hi-tech tools will unleash in an already much-troubled world.