Cyber has deadly consequences

Cyberwar compared to traditional warfare is already in full progress, a prelude to full scale war involving computed coded weapons that cannot be tracked, seen or heard. Two world wars were fought with tanks, aircraft, ships and bombs.

The next world war, which is in, a high state of preparation, will witness combat that has the potential to obliterate humanity on a vast scale transcending geographical boundaries.

Software will replace sonar, algorithm will replace radar, viruses will replace vehicles, binary codes will replace bullets and bombs, artificial intelligence will replace combat soldiers. The geopolitical implications of this kind of combat will propel the balance of power into a new dimension.

The victor will rule the world,the losers will be vanquished into political slavery. This type of attack can be brutal, anonymous and utterly devastating.

Cyberwar has the potential to render economic waste to any nation. It can level the playing field, forcing highly advanced nations to thrash, to jump at every digital shadow while attackers can co-opt the very resources of the defending nation to force-multiply their attacks.

For the first time in human history,current laws and agreements to codify and restrain methods of war, will become obsolete,as the attacker cannot be seen or identified to be accused of violating International Humanitarian Law. Unlike a nuclear weapon, which could kill almost everyone within a half-mile radius,the death toll from most cyber attacks would be slower.

People will die from lack of power or gas for heat, car crashes resulting from corrupted traffic lights and highway systems.

A cyber attack at a nuclear plant could cause an event similar to a complete melt down.

Cyber attackers have few inhibitions. For one thing, it is much easier to disguise the source of a digital incursion than it is to hide where a missile blasted off from.

All the worlds major computing nations have engaged in skirmishes in the cyber domain. Casualties,damages and deaths are concealed and classified as top secret, retaliation and counter-retaliation occur without attracting media-headlines. An undeclared war of attrition carries on unabated. The characteristic of cyber warfare makes it a serious weapon of mass destruction,that falls outside the ambits of every arms control treaty.

The most concerning possibility, is that an attack could happen by mistake or electronic malfunction. It nearly happened during the tense cold war, something analogue could happen in the software and hardware of the digital realm.

FAROUK ARAIE | Johannesburg

***The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media or IOL.***

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