What is cyberwarfare and to what

extent does it pose a significant

threat to world security and the
future of humanity?
By Maurice Yap

Other titles
How are cyber and electronic warfare taking place between China,
the United States, and their respective allies?
To what extent does the Anonymous
hacktivist group have an impact on society?
To what extent does lobbying have on the
foreign policy of the USA?
Should the personal use of cannabis be
legalised in the UK?
Does social class and financial
circumstance significantly affect the
accessibility of classical music, compared to
rock, pop and jazz styles. Is it right to call
classical music elitist?

Aims and objectives

Socio-politically and geo-politically neutral
report on cyberwarfare and cyber-attacks
Extent
Methods, reasons
Who?

Conclusion
Is it a threat?
Future of cyberwarfare
Effects on society

Research

Types of cyberwarfare
Strategic
Attacking to cause
chaos

Cyber-disruption

Sabotage

Cyber-espionage
Gain intelligence

Cyber-terrorism

Spread fear and

destruction

Purpose and execution

USA, UK, Israel, Russia, Iran, China
Intelligence
Support ground invasion
Economic damage

Information warfare
Propaganda battle
for representation
Social networking
Islamist terrorism
Islamic State

Censorship

Political agenda
Preventing digital
piracy
Indecent content
Great Firewall of
China
North Korea

Hacktivism
Anonymous
2014 World Cup in
Brazil

2008 South Ossetia

War

Syrian Civil War

Cyber-espionage
Hacking
Defending

China

Government activities
USA
USCYBERCOM

North Korea

Iran

UK
GCHQ
Joint Cyber Reserve Unit

NATO
Cyber defence policy
Cyber Defence Centre,
Estonia

Shamoon virus

China

Very developed
military doctrine
Cyberwarfare training
centres

Cybercrime
Easier and safer than
traditional crime
Skilled recruits
Links to terrorism
Trojan viruses
Botnets
Koobface

Stuxnet

Threat to social infrastructure

SCADA systems

Air traffic control

Road and rail transport

Energy infrastructure

Financial sector

Political issues
Industrial regulation
Government openness
Legal standing of cyberwarfare compared to
conventional warfare

Evaluation of research
Information warfare most common now
Not many governments have developed policy
Still in more basic stages

Cybercrime will become more sophisticated

Cyber-attacks are not a threat to most social
infrastructure at the moment

Conclusion
Censorship will become untenable
Population will need to be more vigilant and protective
online
Software companies need to invest more time and money, slower
development?

The internet will play a bigger part in future conflicts

Public will have a more balanced view, less polarised

More and more countries will develop better cyberwarfare

capabilities
War will have a cyberwarfare front in future
Cyberwarfare is not much of a threat now, but will be in the
not-too-distant future

Project Reflection
Did well

Decisiveness in title change

Organisation of computer documents cloud

storage

Recording sources

Recording information

Flexibility with the plan

Considering media bias

Didnt do well

Getting focused after exam break

Bibliography

Unproductive summer

Too long wasted unnecessary research

Unfocused research a lot had to be tidied up

when writing the report

Report contained lots of mistakes before proofreading

If I could have done it again

Stayed focused on the title when researching
Chosen a less recent/ongoing topic
Been more disciplined with working to prevent
last-minute rush
Continued to do some work during the exam
period

What I will take forward

Research and information recording techniques
Understanding subtle media bias
Understanding the quality of information from
breaking news articles
Referencing
Knowledge of sources of information regarding
current affairs
Deeper understanding of complexities of geopolitics

Questions?