Cyber Weapons and Cyber Warfare

Abstract

A cyber attack is any type of offensive action employed by nation-states, individuals, groups, or organizations that targets computer information systems, infrastructures, computer networks, or personal computer devices by various means of malicious acts. Cyber attacks typically originate from an anonymous source that steals, alters, or destroys a specified target by hacking into a vulnerable system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberattack). Cyber warfare involves the actions by a nation-state to attack and attempt to damage another nation’s computers or information infrastructure through, for example, computer viruses, worms, or denial-of-service attacks. In this chapter we’ll look at various types of cryptologic techniques used in cyber attacks and discuss the possibilities of using cryptology in cyber warfare; the chapter does not go deeply into system vulnerabilities and attacks or into cyber attack prevention, mitigation, or response.