Definition

Government organizations must keep up with technological advancements in order to stay on equal footing with allies and enemies. This is especially true as more and more resources are replaced with digital equivalents. In a new (2024) Department of Defense Budget Request, $58.5 billion was allocated towards IT and cyberspace activities.

This sentiment has ultimately led to the development of modern Cyber Warfare, where a nation-state or international organization attempts to disrupt or damage another nation's networks by launching cyber attacks. These acts may result in harm to both government and civilian infrastructure, and even death.

Targets of Cyber Warfare

Organizations launching cyber attacks choose from a wide variety of vulnerable targets. This can include military institutions, critical infrastructure, individuals, and non-governmental organizations.  

Even though large organizations and national-level strategic agencies are considered primary targets, that doesn’t discount the nation-wide impacts to infrastructure and individuals that can result from a targeted attack. 

Types of Cyber Warfare

Varying in complexity, ideal targets, techniques, and required resources, there are many forms of cyber warfare attacks:

1. Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks - Attempt to make a digital resource inaccessible by targeting and flooding web servers.
2. Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) - Sophisticated hacking techniques used to establish long-term presence on a network.
3. Cyber Espionage - Gathering data from a target network.
4. Economic Disruption
5. Propaganda Distribution