Cyber Clashes and All-Out War By Richard Miller (London)
The world continues a slow march to World War III, and it is utterly amazing tht it has not happened yet. Artur Lyukmanov, is director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's International Information Security Department and special representative to President Vladimir Putin on international cooperation on information security, has warned that the West continues cyber attacks against Russia, but Russia has the means and will to defend itself: “"We want to halt further deterioration," Lyukmanov said. "A mistake in the use of ICTs [information and communication technologies] may lead to a direct conflict, an all-out war, especially as that the White House is aware that Russia has all the necessary capabilities to defend itself. A devastative computer attack against our critical information infrastructure will not be left without response." By this he presumably means nuclear war, since the cyber attacks could well threaten the functioning of some of Russia’s nuclear defences, which Putin would see as an existential threat.
What is usually ignored in this discussion about cyber-warfare is that the most danger comes from EMP, electromagnetic pulse attacks, upon the grid and electronic infrastructure. It would only take one large nuclear bomb exploded in the stratosphere to achieve this, and to kill, according to Dr Peter Pry, and a US Congressional Report, 90 percent of the population in urban areas from the collapse of infrastructure support, as everything that uses electricity grinds to a halt:
https://futurism.com/congressional-report-a-north-korean-emp-attack-would-kill-90-of-all-americans
“Escalating tensions between the United States and Russia in cyberspace threaten to spark a real-life clash between the nuclear-armed powers, Moscow's top cybersecurity diplomat has told Newsweek.
At a time when Washington has regularly accused Moscow of using cyber tools—referred to in Russia as information and communication technologies (ICTs)—to pursue illicit aims, Artur Lyukmanov, who serves as both director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's International Information Security Department and special representative to President Vladimir Putin on international cooperation on information security, pointed to a "lack of hard evidence" to substantiate such allegations.
Rather, he told Newsweek, "the U.S. builds up offensive ICT-capabilities, conducts 'hunt-forward' operations against Russia" and "employs its clients abroad."
Among those Lyukmanov accused of being involved in such initiatives were the "IT Army of Ukraine" that claims to be a volunteer outfit created at the start of Russia's war in Ukraine more than a year and a half ago, and other NATO nations hosting "cyber laboratories" in Eastern Europe.
Lyukmanov cited the National Cybersecurity Strategy released in March by President Joe Biden's administration, which allowed for U.S. entities to "punish those that engage in disruptive, destructive, or destabilizing malicious cyber activity." The senior Russian official further alleged that U.S. official and corporate entities were "involved in preparations for 'cognitive warfare,'" and warned "such an escalatory path adds higher risks of confrontation."
"We want to halt further deterioration," Lyukmanov said. "A mistake in the use of ICTs may lead to a direct conflict, an all-out war, especially as that the White House is aware that Russia has all the necessary capabilities to defend itself. A devastative computer attack against our critical information infrastructure will not be left without response."
The history of U.S.-Russia relations in cyberspace has long been fraught, with each side accusing the other of engaging in covert, underhanded online tactics to pursue goals parallel to their real-world geopolitical rivalry.
Russia has been particularly active in campaigning for international cooperation on cybersecurity, having sponsored the first-ever U.N. draft resolution on the issue back in 1998 and tabling another resolution that led to the establishment of the Open-ended Working Group on ICTs two decades later in 2018. But despite rare moments of unity, such as a 2013 dialogue opened between Moscow and Washington, frictions have often overshadowed attempts at cooperation in this field.
Burgeoning mistrust between the two nations on cybersecurity first reached a peak in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when U.S. intelligence agencies accused the Kremlin of conducting a concerted influence campaign to support the candidacy of Republican candidate Donald Trump, a charge vehemently denied by Moscow.
Russian officials would go on to deny any role in a number of high-profile cyber incidents to hit the U.S. and other countries in the succeeding years, such as the SolarWinds hack, first publicly reported in December 2020, which granted months-long unauthorized access to software used by hundreds of U.S. companies and government institutions.
Just months before news of that hack became public, Putin put forth a four-point plan to manage cybersecurity relations between Washington and Moscow.
The proposal entailed the establishment of bilateral dialogue mechanisms utilizing existing channels on nuclear risk reduction and computer readiness, jointly developing a bilateral intergovernmental agreement on preventing cyber incidents in the vein of past U.S.-Soviet maritime agreements, and assurances of non-intervention in one another's internal affairs.”
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