Companies with access to sensitive data face internet threats from hackers with political or military motives. In modern warfare, information is a critical weapon, Tony Glover writes
A Revelations from the Chinese military have alerted some of the world's leading companies to a large-scale threat.
In a move that has effectively signalled the launch of a new type of internet warfare, China only just stopped short of declaring war in cyberspace, a term encompassing all internet activity.
Senior Col Ye Zheng and his colleague Zhao Baoxian, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) scholars, published an essay in the party-run newspaper China Youth Daily that predicted a grim future for the World Wide Web.
"Just as nuclear warfare was the strategic war of the industrial era, cyber warfare has become the strategic war of the information era," the PLA scholars wrote. "This has become a form of battle that is massively destructive and concerns the life and death of nations."
Cyber warfare involves attacking vital industries such as oil and food. But this time, the main targets will be the internet defences of companies involved in key industries.
"Certain types of industry are more at risk than others," says Graham Cluley, the senior technology consultant at the international security firm Sophos. "Companies with government contracts are at risk, particularly those responsible for storing sensitive data."
Firms working within the internet security industry such as Sophos report a growing level of hacking aimed at companies with militarily sensitive connections.
"Over the last few weeks, there have been hacking attacks on three leading military contractors: Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications and Northrop Grumman," Mr Cluley says. "As far as we know, no data has been successfully stolen from these companies as a result of these attacks, but they clearly remain targets for hackers as they supply vital systems and technology to the military."
Communications companies carrying sensitive data can also find themselves the targets of politically or militarily motivated hacking attacks. In the case of attacks reported this month by Google, the perpetrators are thought to have originated from Jinan, home to one of six technical reconnaissance bureaus belonging to the PLA.
"There have been attacks against web-based e-mail services such as Google's," Mr Cluley says. "Google has pointed the finger towards China."
But unlike a traditional ground or air attack, it is often hard to trace the precise origin of a cyber attack.
"Cyber warfare is something that is perpetrated by states rather than individuals," says Graham Titterington, a principal analyst at the international research company Ovum. "But in many cases, governments will use private individuals to execute the attack in order to distance themselves from it and make it harder for their enemy to retaliate."This practice is more evident in Russia than in China, where the state is believed to be more closely associated with hacking attacks." The precise tracking of the origins of cyber attacks is made even more difficult by the confusion of economic and military objectives by many governments, particularly where resources such as oil are concerned.
"Some governments may also have an economic motive for a cyber attack on a contractor for a big international tender in fields such as energy," Mr Cluley says. "A Chinese contractor, for example, might consider such an attack on a rival as a way of securing a huge contract."
Analysts also believe that other vital industries such as food distribution would also be targets in the event of war. But the worst of the attacks would be reserved for all-out war.
"It would not make much military sense to launch an all-out cyber attack on an enemy country's infrastructure without an accompanying ground invasion, as is thought to have happened a few years ago when the Russian tanks rolled into Georgia," Mr Titterington says.
"Any business of any size should assume somebody is trying to hack into it. While this has always been the case in defending against criminal attacks, companies are now increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks."
However, companies not only face a cyber threat from countries such as China or Russia but also from western powers such as the US.
"Every government on Earth will consider using the internet to spy and gain economic or military advantage," Mr Cluley says.
The US, in particular, already has highly developed internet intelligence-gathering operations.
By selecting precise targets, sometimes no more than a single vehicle or small group of people, US forces hope to create the maximum military impact with the minimum of force.
"Modern warfare is increasingly about intelligence, with the combatants pinpointing targets and then destroying them, rather than launching an all-out attack," Mr Titterington says. "Cyber espionage plays a vital role in this new type of war."
As the internet enters this unexpectedly violent new stage in its development, companies across the world with close government ties or those involved in vital industries will increasingly find themselves forming the first line of defence against any potential aggressor.
The Pentagon was unavailable for comment.
