A Look at Cyber Crime in Global Politics

In these interesting political times, it is perhaps not surprising that there has been an increase in the role of cyber crime in global politics, or at least allegations of its role.

Last year’s US Presidential Election was one of the most high-profile examples of this, with Hillary Clinton accused of unlawfully using private email servers for government business, and the suggestion that Russia may have used cyber technology to influence the election of Donald Trump. Neither of these accusations has been proven, but they show the potential power of cyber crime in affecting who runs some of the world’s most powerful countries.

Politicians’ war on cybercrime

Whatever else President Trump can be accused of, he is not soft on cyber crime. In a recent speech, he said:

“Cyber theft is the fastest growing crime in the United States by far. As president, improving cybersecurity will be an immediate and top priority for my administration.”

In most countries, politicians are aware of the need to tackle cybercrime targeted at their citizens and businesses. Many of these cyber crimes are motivated by financial gain. Ransomware encrypts data and files, which the criminals offer to unencrypt for a fee. Bogus emails that try and trick people into revealing their passwords, banking and credit card details are financially motivated, and hacking an online retailer’s website is a route to seizing credit card details.

Politically motivated cyber crime

An even more sinister type of cyber crime is politically motivated. The perpetrators can be aligned to a political or religious ideology and their cyber crimes are targeted at people that oppose them. The cyber attacks are often conducted by individuals or small politically motivated groups. Their size and financial resources limit how much damage they can do.

Perhaps more worrying is cyber crimes sponsored by states with large resources. Russia was accused of sponsoring cybercrime during its conflict with Georgia, while China has been accused of cyber attacks against the West.

Politically motivated cyber attacks can cripple a country’s infrastructure, as was seen in 2007 when an attack on Estonia disrupted public services, banking and communications.

The threat to the UK

Britain is a high-profile target for political cyber crime. This was recognised in 2008 in the government’s National Security Strategy document, which stated:

“The security and intelligence agencies will continue to protect the United Kingdom against covert activity by foreign intelligence organizations aimed at political, economic and security targets, including cyber-attack.”

Potential targets are not just government organisations or the military. Politically motivated attacks could occur on major British companies, especially those in the finance, technology and telecommunications industries.

Stopping political cyber crimes

Halting politically motivated cyber crime is not easy. It is often difficult to establish the source of an attack. One sponsored by a foreign government may not come from a server located in that country. Often an attack can appear to come from one location but is first initiated from another server.

Any tech system can be targeted by both criminal and politically motivated attacks. This is why all networks need security systems, and all people using systems need to be educated in security awareness.