1.8 Conclusion
95
Thirdly, only after reading Chaps. 1–3 our reader will understand the role of
Trojans as “silicon micro soldier” (this is how they were called by a well-known
futurologist, writer and philosopher Stanisław Lem). At the time of writing his
little-known work “The Tool of the Twenty-first Century—Evolution Upside Down,”
nobody had ever heard of these hardware Trojans. Only a science fiction writer of
this level could have come to this conclusion by analyzing the history and trends of
weapon development.
Today we can confidently claim that these “silicon soldiers,” or rather “silicon
cyber Soldiers,” are the basic elements of all known types of cyberweapons.
Therefore, in this Chapter, we examined in detail the issues of terminology, objects
of cyberweapons, features of defensive and offensive cyberweapons, including a
detailed description of the main types of information attacks.
Let us take a retrospective look at the history of creation of this technology field.
Various criminal groups (yakuza gangsters, mafia, etc.) were the first to start using
individual elements of cyberweapons to achieve their criminal goals. Based on the
results of judicial investigations of such facts, Interpol informed of this special type of
criminal activity practiced by the intelligence agencies of developed countries, who
immediately evaluated not only new threats, but also completely new opportunities
of these weapons.
The main objects of the first type of cyberweapons are people, and the second—
technology (software and hardware).
As it is known from some open sources, in the USA, China, and NATO countries,
various concepts of wars of the twenty-second century, where cyberweapons play a
key role, are actively developed.
Here, reference is made to the use of special tools developed in institutes and
laboratories with restricted access, followed by certain changes in information and
social systems of adversaries. In accordance with this concept, it is planned to use
these weapons at three levels simultaneously: strategic, tactical and operational. The
main objects of its impact are primarily information technology systems (information
switching, telecommunication, etc.), all existing social systems, certain groups of
individuals and even private persons (criminal leaders, “high-profile” politician and
top generals).
So far, only the state of development of psychophysical weapons (called neural
weapons in the military circles abroad) is the most extensively covered by the press
(as compared to cyberweapons). Psychophysical weapon—a combination of various
methods and means (technotronic, psychotropic, suggestive cognitive, etc.) of latent
violent impact on a person’s subconscious in order to modify (change) the subconscious (and, eventually, the human consciousness), behavior and mental state in the
interests of the customer—the attacking party (state, group of individuals, “superman”). In essence, psychophysical weapons (in Sect. 1.8, we went for the term
“neural weapons,” widely used by our Western colleagues) are only one of the many
varieties of cyberweapons.
As follows from this chapter, information technology (cybernetic) weapons have
fundamentally important qualitative characteristics that distinguish them from all
other known types of weapons and give them undoubted advantages: versatility,
95
Thirdly, only after reading Chaps. 1–3 our reader will understand the role of
Trojans as “silicon micro soldier” (this is how they were called by a well-known
futurologist, writer and philosopher Stanisław Lem). At the time of writing his
little-known work “The Tool of the Twenty-first Century—Evolution Upside Down,”
nobody had ever heard of these hardware Trojans. Only a science fiction writer of
this level could have come to this conclusion by analyzing the history and trends of
weapon development.
Today we can confidently claim that these “silicon soldiers,” or rather “silicon
cyber Soldiers,” are the basic elements of all known types of cyberweapons.
Therefore, in this Chapter, we examined in detail the issues of terminology, objects
of cyberweapons, features of defensive and offensive cyberweapons, including a
detailed description of the main types of information attacks.
Let us take a retrospective look at the history of creation of this technology field.
Various criminal groups (yakuza gangsters, mafia, etc.) were the first to start using
individual elements of cyberweapons to achieve their criminal goals. Based on the
results of judicial investigations of such facts, Interpol informed of this special type of
criminal activity practiced by the intelligence agencies of developed countries, who
immediately evaluated not only new threats, but also completely new opportunities
of these weapons.
The main objects of the first type of cyberweapons are people, and the second—
technology (software and hardware).
As it is known from some open sources, in the USA, China, and NATO countries,
various concepts of wars of the twenty-second century, where cyberweapons play a
key role, are actively developed.
Here, reference is made to the use of special tools developed in institutes and
laboratories with restricted access, followed by certain changes in information and
social systems of adversaries. In accordance with this concept, it is planned to use
these weapons at three levels simultaneously: strategic, tactical and operational. The
main objects of its impact are primarily information technology systems (information
switching, telecommunication, etc.), all existing social systems, certain groups of
individuals and even private persons (criminal leaders, “high-profile” politician and
top generals).
So far, only the state of development of psychophysical weapons (called neural
weapons in the military circles abroad) is the most extensively covered by the press
(as compared to cyberweapons). Psychophysical weapon—a combination of various
methods and means (technotronic, psychotropic, suggestive cognitive, etc.) of latent
violent impact on a person’s subconscious in order to modify (change) the subconscious (and, eventually, the human consciousness), behavior and mental state in the
interests of the customer—the attacking party (state, group of individuals, “superman”). In essence, psychophysical weapons (in Sect. 1.8, we went for the term
“neural weapons,” widely used by our Western colleagues) are only one of the many
varieties of cyberweapons.
As follows from this chapter, information technology (cybernetic) weapons have
fundamentally important qualitative characteristics that distinguish them from all
other known types of weapons and give them undoubted advantages: versatility,