The recent news that the Mumbai electric grid shutdown in October 2020 was possibly an attack by Chinese state backed hackers was interesting and alarming at the same time. It has set alarm bells ringing because the incident shows that technology connected over any network can be easily rendered ineffective causing serious disruption.
The US based company Recorded Future has reported that the cyber attack on the Mumbai electricity grid was possibly carried out by a hacker group, the Red Echo based on the Chinese mainland and were backed by the Chinese government, in other words the Chinese Communist Party. While this is not the first attack, it also will not be the last. As the internet becomes more powerful the threat of cyber warfare has gained currency among the national security establishments across the world.
There are watchdogs around the globe. Private companies and organisations which continuously monitor the net for tell tale signs of cyber attacks. These entities keep a tab on who is doing what on the net. That China has a well funded cyber warfare program is known to all. It is not known how advanced or sophisticated their capabilities are. China has whole organisations controlled by the CCP or the military which are dedicated to enhancing the nation's capability in cyber warfare. Chinese state backed hackers have been stealing technology secrets from private companies as well as government agencies in a lot of countries. Even Russia was accused of running a misinformation campaign designed to help the Republicans in 2019 elections. Trump allegedly was helped by this Russian interference in the American electoral process. Such sophisticated cyber attacks have now become common place.
With the IOT (Internet of Things)- where things or devices talk and communicate with each other- expanding and coming more into use, the threat of cyber warfare is getting bigger by the day. Not only nations, but institutions, companies and indivisuals will also be facing this threat in the near future. One more report in the US in October 2020 had named a malware SlothfulMedia which was used by Chinese government hackers to spy on indivisuals and companies in India. Other Central Asian and Europesn countries were also targeted in this cyber attack.
It does not take too much guesswork to understand where things are headed. In case of a real war you can completely paralyse your enemy by attacking his Supply chain logistics, industrial production, transportation, financial system etc. In short a country can seriously destroy its enemy's ability to make war or even its ability to defend itself by disrupting its communication networks. Two can play the same game here. If your production and supplies are disrupted, all the soldiers and equipment on your borders are of no use as they cannot fight without support. The military forces of the world are heavy users of computers and electronics for communication. This is now proving to become their Achilles heel.
For the foreseeable future cyber warfare is going to be a vital part of any nation's defence repertoire. Network centric warfare capability will be the key in gaining the upper hand in any conflict. Tanks and planes will still be important, but they will be controlled by intelligent networks. This cat and mouse game of attacks and counter measures is just the beginning. It is not unlike the Big Game which was played between the Super Powers during the cold war. In the near future super intelligent college going teenagers would perhaps have more to do with this kind of a war than generals commanding large armies.
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