IT and the state
9. 10. 2019
Jakub Drmola
Modern technology and Conflicts

In general
•Specific
•Behavior
•Activities
•Purpose

•                                                                       Ideology
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•Individuals
              State
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•                                                                         Profit
Hacktivism               Militia       Cyberterrorisms
 Espionage
Sabotage
Financial crime
Stolen identity

Triad of cyber security
•CIA
•Confidentiality
•Integrity
•Availability

Main state activities in cyberspace
•Espionage
•Sabotage
•Censure
•Information war/propaganda
•Demonstration of power
•Support of conventional attack

Cyber espionage vs. Sabotage
•Espionage
•Obtaining strategically sensitive or strategically important information from individuals or
organizations by using or targeting IT means. It is used most often in the context of obtaining a
political, economic or military supremacy.
•Sabotage
•Deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity or corporation through subversion, obstruction,
disruption or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of
efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions.
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Cases



Censorship
•Commonly linked with non-democratic regimes
•Halal internet vs. forbidden applications
•Different methods of circumvention
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Surveillance
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•Repressive or suppressive
•For law enforcement
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•Potential targets:
•Criminals, terrorists
•Dissidents, journalists
•Minorities, foreigners
Image result for finfisher

Demonstration of power
•Estonia (2007) and Latvia (2008)
•Similar modus operandi (DDoS, defacement and malware)
•Russian Federation – absence of direct evidence
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•Estonia -  due to the removal of the bronze statue of an unknown Soviet soldier
•for RF symbol of freedom vs. symbol of occupation
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•Latvia – main reasons: law about non-acceptance Nazi and Soviet symbols, planning of American
antimissile defense
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Support conventional attack
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•Georgia (2008)
-In the background of a five-day war
-Target: destroying of active communication and information
-Methods: defacement, DoS, DDoS, malware
-Patriotic hacking (nationalistic mode in society)
-Russian Business Network
-Attacks also on RF
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Collage created by hackers (image reproduced from Russian site, lenta.ru

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http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/imagenes_sociopol/middleeast12_04.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Destroyed_Reactor.jpg
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/imagenes_sociopol/middleeast12_04.jpg

Information war/ propaganda
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Demystification ???
•1982: trans-siberian sabotage
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•2000s: shot mafia boss
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•2008: Lodz trams
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•2014: steel mill hack
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