27 October 2018

6 Reads To Understand Cyber War: The War Of The Future

By Manaal Bhombal
1. Conventional warfare has created a new normal in conflict zones. Children as carriers of bombs, attacks on schools and playgrounds are now readily accepted as a viable war technique. The war of the future needs to protects citizens and especially children from becomes such baits. Countries should effectively eradicate attacks in civilian areas.

And secondly, public opinion of ‘refugees’ should be altered to be more open and embracing.

2. With flash paced advancements in technology, a terminator style war in the future is imminent. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning will affect the way wars are fought. The big concern is that these technologies may create autonomous weapons systems that can make choices about killing humans independently of those who created or deployed them. 


Countries like China and North Korea have frequently pondered over the possibility of a drone/robot war against the US. Whereas Russia has already demonstrated its cyber war capabilities in the past. This article shed light on the evolution of war from nuclear in the 1940s to AI in the next decade.

3. The defence technologies and weapons in India are undergoing massive developments with every passing day. We have the most lethal Navy and Air Force in Asia. India’s nuclear missile tests are giving sleepless nights to China.

Our military might is well-acknowledged at the UN and even the US may not want to engulf in a future war with India. Some analyst believe that India is already a military superpower.

4. Cyber warfare on the other hand is more attractive to small nations. This is because traditional warfare is expensive, defence weapons and military training required large amounts of funds which smaller nations cannot afford to allocate. But cyber warfare requires less resources and can still inflict big damages on economies.

Over the years, many cyber attacks have taken place – like the attack on Iran’s nuclear programme by US and Israel, and North Korea’s attack on Sony in 2012.

This article shows how cyber warfare is a great alternative to conventional weapons for smaller countries.


5. Despite that, the US and China are one of the strongest nations in cyber warfare with China taking the lead. Within Asia, China certainly has one of the more advanced cyber armies, with over 2 lakh estimated cyber soldiers.

It’s no secret that China has been using private sector specialists to build this cyber army which has already been accused of an array of cyber-attacks in Canada, France, India, Russia and, of course, the U.S., to name just a few of its more revered casualties of cyberwar.

6. But the United States has still got the best chance at winning such a war. The US believes that the best way to stop the frustrating array of cyberattacks on the United States — ranging from credit card theft, to emails stolen from Hollywood studios, to the millions of security clearance records lifted from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — is to demonstrate the capability and willingness to hit back just as hard. 

US cyber forces are already increasing their capacity on the offensive side to get to that point of deterrence. This article points out how the old school model of deterrence helped the US win the Cold War and the apparent flaws in it that they need to overcome to win a cyberwar.

WTD News is partnering with X Billion Action Lab for the 9th UN Young Changemakers Conclave on 27th October, at the US Consulate Lawns in Mumbai. Join us as we discuss #ReimaginingCapitalism with the Chairman Business World, Anurag Batra at the event or on our Instagram.

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