The Role of Cyberattacks on Modern Warfare: A Review

The Role of Cyberattacks on Modern Warfare: A Review

Dennis Redeemer Korda1, Emmanuel Oteng Dapaah2
1Department of ICT, Bolgatanga Technical University
2Department of ICT, E.P College of Education, Bimbilla
DOI: https://doi.org/10.51584/IJRIAS.2023.8733
Received: 28 July 2023; Accepted: 02 August 2023; Published: 30 August 2023

Abstract: The role of cyberattacks in modern warfare has become increasingly important in recent years. Cyberattacks can be used to gain a tactical advantage over an adversary, disrupt or disable critical infrastructure, gather intelligence, as well as engage in offensive or defensive operations. They can also be used as part of psychological warfare to create a sense of fear and uncertainty among an adversary’s population. As a result, military forces around the world are investing in cybersecurity and cyber warfare capabilities to prepare for the evolving threat landscape. This abstract highlights the growing importance of cyberattacks in modern warfare and the need for continued focus on developing and improving cybersecurity and cyber warfare capabilities.

Keywords: Cyberattacks, cybersecurity, Cyberwar, DDoS, Cyberspace,

I. Introduction

The past few years have seen a surge in cyberattacks. Cyberattacks are fragment of modern warfare. In Russia’s war against Ukraine, they are being used to discourage and spread misinformation which could also have an unswerving influence on the combat zone. The very same day that Russian groups invaded Ukrainian territory, vital Kyiv government websites were suddenly unavailable together with that of the parliament, government, Foreign Ministry and other state institutions(Russia-Ukraine Conflict: What Role Do Cyberattacks Play? | Europe | News and Current Affairs from around the Continent | DW | 28.02.2022, n.d.).
Some of the hackers use distributed denial-of-service attack, known as DDoS, A DDoS attack involves multiple connected online devices, jointly identified as a botnet, which are used to overwhelm a targeted server, service or network with fake traffic. Data-wiper malware was first boomed in an operation in 2017 where a Russian wiper malware targeted Ukraine with the self-styled NotPetya malware that caused enormous economic damage (Milmo, 2022). This software was first detected on Ukraine computers and can destroy massive amounts of data. The cyberattack echoed a similar operation in 2017, when Russian wiper malware targeted Ukraine with the so-called NotPetya malware that caused enormous economic damage. These two forms of attacks are not really enough to the change the outcome of the war in Ukraine, however, it crystal clear that these attacks are not only targeting critical Information Technology infrastructure but there are also ruminants of false information. All these attacks occur in the cyberspace and since these attacks target primarily data, it is imperative to take the necessary steps to protect data(Hodowu et al., 2020; Korda et al., 2021).