Tag Archive for: Century

The Gunpowder of the Twenty-First Century

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Gunpowder was invented in the ninth century in China. It was mostly used to make explosive arrows and lances until it made its first appearance in Europe in 1267, following the Mongol invasion. Over 300 years after the initial invention, it enabled the creation of weapons that would transform warfare and change the world forever. In 1453 these weapons brought down the world’s longest-existing empire as the Ottomans overcame the walls of Constantinople using the Basillica gun. Fast forward to 2017 in western Ukraine and the site of one of the biggest cyber-attacks known to date – NotPetya. Originating in the Russian Federation, this piece of malware managed to infect, encrypt, and subsequently wipe thousands of devices all over the world. Events like NotPetya contribute to bigger trends. This article identifies these trends and relates them to the world of international relations. In this inspection, it is important to take into account the unique features of the cyber world as it relies very little on the physical boundaries that the field of international relations is so familiar with, making their interplay all the more interesting.

Trend 1: Increasing Global ‘Attack Surface’

Attack Surface is a term cyber professionals use to define the points of contact, which can be used to perform a malicious activity. It is used when describing a system or an entire IT infrastructure of an organisation or a state. Throughout the last three decades, we have seen a dramatic increase in the ‘global attack surface’. The invention of the internet together with the advancement of computers opened up an entire new world – the cyber world. Before, one state could physically send an agent to another state to gather intelligence, or an army to attempt to dramatically shift the balance of power. Now, states can hack to gather intelligence, or disrupt the national electrical grids and systems of their enemies. Before, a criminal could pickpocket you on a bus or a train. Now, they can encrypt your computer and demand a ransom.

Historically, a sudden increase in global attack surface led to a series of dramatic developments which usually also increased the rate of…

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Students at Fayetteville Technical Community College find themselves on the front lines of 21st century warfare

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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) — Fayetteville Technical Community College is training people to protect others from cyber attacks.

The FBI issued a new warning about the possibility of Russian cyber attacks on U.S. infrastructure, placing some students in Fayetteville on the front lines in a way they didn’t initially expect.

Christopher Barksdale is a retired veteran and former Army aircraft mechanic. Now, his new boot camp is inside a classroom at Fayetteville Technical Community College.

“It does kind of feel like you’re on the front line but in a digital sense,” Barksdale said. “You hear about digital attacks here and digital attacks there and it’s almost like you’re getting involved in a major conflict going on again.”

Barksdale enrolled in a six-week program designed to teach students foundation in cyber security.

Instructor Darryl Carter specializes in taking students with zero experience and building them into finely-tuned experts.

“The same technology that they use to operate your car is the same technology that they are going to use to try and break into your computer at home,” Carter explained. “So we have to (get) them scripting and we have to teach them software development and teach how programs are written and how to do that safely and effectively.”

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Trump says Durham’s probe will expose ‘the crime of the century’

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Donald Trump claims Special Counsel John Durham’s probe into the former president’s ties to Russia revealed the alleged spying by Hillary Clinton‘s campaign was ‘treason at the highest level.’

‘It looks like this is just the beginning, because, if you read the filing and have any understanding of what took place – and I called this a long time ago – you’re going to see a lot of other things happening, having to do with what, really, just is a continuation of the crime of the century,’ Trump said in an exclusive interview with Fox News on Tuesday. 

‘This is such a big event, nobody’s seen anything like this.’

The former president claimed he ‘didn’t have any’ insight into the allegations outlined in Durham’s February 11 court filing until it was made public, but noted that the Department of Justice official found ‘things far bigger than anybody thought possible.’

Durham alleged that Clinton’s presidential campaign paid to ‘infiltrate’ and exploit servers at Trump Tower, Trump’s Central Park West apartment, a ‘particular health care provider’ and the White House to ‘establish an inference and narrative’ that would tie Trump to Russia. 

The filing also accused Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann of bringing Trump-Russia allegations that ‘relied, in part’ on traffic assembled by the servers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 

Durham was appointed in 2019 by then-Attorney General William Barr to investigate possible misconduct within the U.S. government as it investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and any ties to the Trump campaign. 

Donald Trump (pictured in January 2022) claims Special Counsel John Durham's probe into the former president's ties to Russia revealed the alleged spying by Hillary Clinton 's campaign was 'treason at the highest level'

Donald Trump (pictured in January 2022) claims Special Counsel John Durham’s probe into the former president’s ties to Russia revealed the alleged spying by Hillary Clinton ‘s campaign was ‘treason at the highest level’ 

In a section of the filing titled Factual Background, Durham argued those involved with the infiltration of the servers were ‘mining traffic and and other data for the purpose of gathering derogatory information about Donald Trump.’ 

The former president – who alleged ‘people were suspicious that something was going on’ during the 2016…

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Malware and Hacking: The 21st Century Enterprise Battleground

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Traditional cybersecurity teams are falling behind in the fight against malware and hacking. With the rise of remote work and the mobile workforce over the last 2 years, cybersecurity across the Internet and cloud domains is more complex than ever. Over the same period, the number of malware, ransomware, and hacker attacks has grown exponentially, with more than 1/3 of enterprises experiencing a ransomware attack, according to IDC. Compounding the problem: even untrained cyber attackers can use “Ransomware as a Service” platforms to perform increasingly intelligent and powerful attacks. Join us as experts explore these and other security-related issues – and examine how Cisco’s Umbrella solution help.

 

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