Research Paper on Russia's Cyberwar: Revenge and Security Against Global Cyberattacks

Introduction

Russia is one of the countries in the world that has sophisticated cyber systems. Just like other countries around the globe, Russia has been exposed to cybercrime. In the course of developing systems against cyber-attacks that the state receives and it has also incorporated revenge missions. Revenge missions against the nations and the people that attacked the Russian technology systems are the source of cyberwar in Russia. In other words, Russia is known for several cyberwar instances, especially towards the USA, among other countries. Usually, Russia has a posture of revenge against any country that attacks them either through the physical war or the internet war. As a result, the country has developed policies that enable it to engage in cyberwar. The Russians also have a particular posture towards cyberwar, and they usually think that they can use it as a weapon against their attackers. Therefore, the discussion explains the Russian policy and attitude on cyberwar and the use of cyber as a weapon.

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Russian Policy on Cyberwar

The Russian government has developed several policies on cyberwar in recent years. The purpose of these policies is to make sure that the country is ready for any cyberwar whenever it emerges. The policies enable the country to protect its data from being accessed by the enemy. These policies enable the country to prepare for any form of cyberwar in terms of hacking and protecting itself on legal grounds. As a result, it has been very difficult for other countries to legally pursue Russia as far as cyberwar is concerned because it has well-struggled protection policies. Furthermore, the country makes sure that it engages the technology experts whenever it is developing the policies on cyberwar.

One of the Russians' policies on cyberwar is the information warfare commonly referred to as (IW). Unlike the western and the European countries, Russians like referring to the cyber war as the information war. This policy is strengthened by the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation (2010)(Connell and Volger 3). According to this military doctrine, the is that the modern military must prepare for information warfare and develop the measures for its implementations before engaging in warfare. The Russian military is very keen at this, especially when preparing for information warfare attacks against western countries.

According to the information warfare policy, Russia engages in the cyberwar to achieve several things over other countries. These things include the achievement of political objectives in a manner that doesn't portray Russia to use military force. However, it ensures that other world communities feel the impact of their military force without showing their efforts to use the force. In other words, information warfare is a smarter way of declaring and fighting other nations without necessarily announcing a physical war.

Russian information warfare policy also involves the use of information networks and information troops(Connell and Volger 4). Normally the information networks facilitate the utilization of technologies that influence the population and the state structures hence resulting in cyberwar. For instance, some years back, Russia used this strategy to cause war in north Africa.

On the other hand, the information warfare policy provides a room for training the information trustee Russian information troops are trained with the asymmetric military tactics. The troops are trained that the purpose of Russia engaging in cyberwar is disorganizing governance, deluding adversaries, influencing the public opinion, organizing anti-government protests, and reducing the opponent's resistance (Connell and Volger 5). Notably, the Russian information troops are trained to execute these practices in other countries.

Another Russians policy on cyberwar is creating organizations and agencies. These agencies are liable for conducting cyberwar to other nations due to various reasons. The largest agency involved in a cyberwar in Russia is the Federal Security Service that is part of the FSB (Connell and Volger 7). Its main objective is to keep and monitoring the internal cyber-surveillance system for Russia. Another agency is the Directorate K of the Ministry of Internal affairs, which deals mainly with cybercrime (Connell and Volger 7). This agency is liable to investing all the cybercrime activities performed within the Russian bounders by either Russians or its adversaries. Also, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service and the Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation are involved in conducting both the external and internal cyber operations. These agencies strengthen the posture as well as the use of cyberwar as Russia's weapon.

Another Russian policy on cyberwar is collaborating with hacktivists and criminals to perform cyber-attacks in other countries. The I.O. toolkit of Russia consists of advanced persistent threat (APT) and cyber hacking groups that are distributed in different parts of the world. In other words, Russia outsources of hacker's operations from non-state actors. Therefore, it is difficult to link the Russian government with cyberwar attacks. Other countries that practice this strategy are North Korea, China, and Iran.

The soviet education system enables Russia to bread good experts in technology and computer science hence indirectly training a good number of young people to become hackers. As a result, the cyberattacks conducted by Russia through its non-state actors are the most successive attacks in the lobe. For instance, the hack on North Korea Sony pictures was conducted by Russian hackers. Also, in the year 2017, Russian is suspected of having conducted a cyber attack on the USA presidential elections (Doffman).

Russian Posture on Cyberwar

Russia's posture on cyberwar is using it to indirectly sabotage other countries that are most powerful in the world. Again, Russians believe that the safest of engaging in war will the powerful states in the world is through conducting cyberattacks. Its opponents are likely to retaliate by conducting cyber-attacks towards Russia. In the case of country cyber-attacks, Russian have an advantage over other nations because it has well-qualified information troops in its military forces as well as non-state actors. Furthermore, Russia has the belief that it is the most powerful country in the globe when it comes to planning and coordinating cyberwar attacks to other nations, especially the western countries. According to Keir Giles, Russian information warfare is wider than that of the hacker's ad cyber warriors focus in Western countries.

Russians also have a belief in conducting cyberwar attacks on NATO countries. For instance, the US and Venezuela are the main victims of the Russians' cyberwar attacks. Russian believes that cyberwar attacks on NATO countries are the best way of revenge against the Cold War that the USSR experienced from the western countries. In other words, the source of Russians vengeance is the Cold War era because Russians felt that the westerns succeeded in spreading propaganda sold their ideologies in the world hence becoming very powerful. The Russian military expert, Keir Giles, informed NATO that Russians aim to control and protect the world's information in whatever the cost. Keir communicated this information to NATO through "The Next Phase of Russian Information Warfare" ("Russian Military Admits Cyber-War Effort").

Use of Cyberwar as a Weapon

Russians are using the cyberwar space as a weapon against its adversaries, such as Ukraine and the NATO countries. Russians believe that their increased cyberwar targets on the NATO countries will make them support the anti-Russian nationals to have continuous warfare with Russia. Another way that Russia has been using the information warfare against NATO is through using social media profiles to engage individual solders that are serving in the NATO troops (Covington 27). This strategy is a great weapon because it is likely to cause betrayal among NATO troops. In that case, it will be easier for the Russian military to pursue the NATO troops serving in Ukraine.

Additionally, cyberwar is a weapon for Russians because it is used to tarnish the reputation of western leaders. For example, it was revealed that the Russian hackers helped president Donald Trump to rig the elections ("Russian Military Admits Cyber-War Effort"). As a result, several Americans started questioning the integrity of their president. Some Americans feel that that president is collaborating with their enemies. This is one of the issues that congress voted for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. This was a scorecard for Russians because they cause a public opinion that America's president was corrupt.

Furthermore, Russia uses grid hackings to hack the USA grids. The Russian grids are immune to the threats posed by the American grids (Greenberg). This has caused tension between the USA and Russia, and it's a ground for potential warfare between the two countries. Since the USA is trying to avoid war, it is engaging in campaigning against the Russian cyberattack grids. Generally, the Russian cyberwar is a weapon against its enemies.

Work Cited

"Russian Military Admits Cyber-War Effort". BBC News, 2017, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39062663.

Connell, Michael, and Sarah Vogler. Russia's Approach to Cyber Warfare (1Rev). No. DOP-2016-U-014231-1Rev. Center for Naval Analyses Arlington United States, 2017. https://www.cna.org/cna_files/pdf/DOP-2016-U-014231-1Rev.pdf

Covington, Stephen R. The Culture of Strategic Thought Behind Russia's Modern Approaches to Warfare. Harvard Kennedy School, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, 2016. https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/files/Culture%20of%20Strategic%20Thought%203.pdf

Doffman, Zak. "Russian Secret Weapon Against U.S. 2020 Election Revealed In New Cyberwarfare Report". Forbes, 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/09/24/new-cyberwarfare-report-unveils-russias-secret-weapon-against-us-2020-election/#4dc361ac68f5.

Greenberg, Andy. "How Not To Prevent A Cyberwar With Russia". Wired, 2019, https://www.wired.com/story/russia-cyberwar-escalation-power-grid/. Accessed 14 Mar 2020.