Just in 2013, dozens of Nepali government websites have been hacked by hackers’ communities. Most of these hackings are done from Saudi Arabian territory. A number of them included displaying derogatory messages regarding Nepal and Nepali people. The aim of those hackings is yet unknown.
A hacker is someone who seeks and exploits weaknesses in a computer system or network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or challenge. According to the nature of activities they perform, hackers are of different types. [break]
Black hackers try to break into secret plans or information, and may also try to break physical systems. Some hackers hack to learn flaws and find loopholes of the system, they will not break or alter system information. They are known as white hackers. Gray hackers hack to make money by selling the flaws and loopholes of systems.
Big fish eat small fish; and big nations want to rule over smaller ones. Nowadays, many countries are involved in stealing information, patents, and secret strategies from other countries. The reason behind such hacking is to make money or impose power over other nations, which is a potential cause for a world war. In recent years, the means of international war has shifted from conventional weapons to cyber space, which is termed cyber warfare.
Cyber warfare includes a wide variety of activities including breaking and/or damaging nuclear plants, military strategies, communication networks, government strategies, and policies of other countries. A number of the countries are training hackers for this purpose, who are paid a large sum of money and provided with the best facilities.
Many countries including the US, China, South Korea, North Korea, Pakistan, India, and others have established cyber military units in their military organizations to prepare for cyber warfare. These units attempt to find the strength and vulnerabilities of the systems and networks of other nations. Most countries are victims of cyber crime, and are involved in cyber warfare with or without their knowledge. A country can be involved in cyber warfare knowingly to extract secret information from other countries, their plans and strategies, or to secure its own system against attacks from other countries. Many countries are participating in cyber warfare unknowingly, as they are being used to attack third countries.
India’s security experts claimed that Pakistan is preparing different groups of hackers, aiming to attack India and extract its military strategy and national policy and to damage its national communication and electricity networks. American security agencies claim that China is preparing special units in the PLA (Peoples’ Liberation Army) to attack other countries, and they are also trying to enter US network to break into its government and military strategies and communication satellites, and damage its nuclear plants. More recently, the war between North and South Korea has shifted to cyber space. North Korea has infected South Korea’s government network and computer systems containing important information.
Nepal is rapidly growing in the field of information and technology. The government itself is planning to use technology for easy and transparent service, though its implementation is still in the early phases. These technologies have been implemented in a few sectors, while in others, the implementation is either in planning or in inception phases. Nepal has an important role to play in cyber warfare, located as it is between India and china, which are both active participants of the warfare. Either of these giant countries might use Nepal as a route to attack the other. Nepal needs to be aware of it and make necessary preparations from an early stage.
Attackers can enter other countries’ networks through Nepal’s network, making Nepal an unwitting participant. In 2011, a popular Nepali daily newspaper was hacked by a Pakistani hackers group. It was said that the server of newspaper was hosted in India, which is why they targeted it. It was not known whether the attackers achieved their target.
Another potential concern for Nepal is being a direct victim of cyber warfare. Hackers’ communities abroad may take advantage of the lack of secure networks in a lot of our sectors to leak information and financial data. To defend itself from these, Nepal should start focusing on the security of systems and networks.
For the general public, who are the consumers of these features, to trust the government, ICT must be made secure. Financial sectors like banks and insurance companies, if attacked, may have to bear financial loss. A commercial bank in Nepal has been attacked multiple times by Turkish hackers. The major effect of this attack was that whenever anyone tried to access this bank’s website, it was automatically redirected to the hackers’ website. However, claims have been made that there have been no financial losses through this attack.
Besides being a medium and victim of cyber warfare, Nepal has the potential to be an attacker itself. Whenever one is attacked, the first step is to take defensive approaches. But in wars, defense is not always enough. In such scenarios, the third role, that of an attacker, can be played. Like other countries, Nepal can also prepare and train a cyber army for the purpose of attacking. It is obvious that Nepal should be in the position to make, if not best, then at least good use of the information extracted from these attacks.
The role of each country can be offensive or defensive. Offensive countries try to attack for information, sabotage, and espionage. But those countries which cannot attack others and/or cannot take advantage of cyber warfare but are conscious of these activities must at least make their systems secure from external attacks. Countries like Nepal should do proper homework regarding their strategies and policies towards cyber warfare. Nepal needs to decide whether it wants to be offensive or defensive.
For this, ICT experts around Nepal should be identified and asked to formulate appropriate policies and security measures, and also to define the role of Nepal in cyber warfare. The policy thus formed should address both offensive and defensive approaches, so that Nepal can keep itself safe from warfare and also benefit from ICT.
The author is a student of computer Engineering at NCIT
tejp_dhamala@live.com
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