Who is the World’s Cyber Superpower?

Who is the World’s Cyber Superpower?

This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

12047191_m feateruThe U.S has proved again and again that it can utilize cyber weaponry to an effective degree. The employment of the Stuxnet virus by the United States and Israel reveals the sophistication of the weaponry; however, the volatile nature of the virus also reveals how unpredictable this method of warfare can be.

It would also be troubling to predict that only the United States has the ability to launch cyber warfare attacks. Other nations have their own forms of cyber weapons and have reportedly employed them.

According to ADINEWS China, for one, has shown a desire to employ hacking and cyber activity against the United States Defense Department. A recent congressional report has indicated that China might even have the capability to disrupt the U.S. military’s response if China chose to launch an attack on Taiwan.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

China is not the only nation that has tremendous cyber warfare potential. Russia is presumed to have such capabilities. Russia is strongly believed to have used cyber weapons to attack Georgia during the military incursion into the country in 2008. In early 2014, the Cyber Snake program that attacked the Ukraine is strongly believed to be of Russian origin.

European allies are also likely to have cyber weapons at their disposal with the UK being high among them. NATO surely has cyber war abilities.

As long as skilled scientists are able to create malicious programs and a strong military knows who to utilize the programs, the potential to develop high end cyber weapons is a possibility. The U.S. would not have much of an ability to slow down the development of such weapons. Hence, the U.S. may not likely be able to remain the only entity with a vast arsenal of this type of weaponry.