1. The Cyber Wars BRIAN ABDO

2. Geopolitical Agendas  Upswing in hacking with governmental agendas.  Their purpose is to discover information from the targeted defender that the agency that is funding the operation would find useful while damaging the defender.  Specifically, information and actions that would benefit nation or rogue states through the proliferation of ideas or force.

4. Current Trends  61,000 Cyber-Security breaches in 2014  $300 billion dollar cost, in damages, per year  Russia uses “Troll Armies” to spam disinformation.  This was predominately used during the Ukrainian Civil War.  China is responsible for > 70% of corporate intellectual property theft  Quote from two former Pentagon officials  “Chinese computer spied raided the databanks of almost every major U.S. defense contractor and made off with some of the country’s most closely guarded technological secrets.” (2013)

5. Political Evolution  Governments are starting to use hacking as a tool for heavy-handed political leaning  North Korea (Presumed)  Sony Picture hack  Desired compromising data while exposing vulnerabilities in order to destroy public image to force the removal of a movie it is assumed Kim Jong Un, and others in the communist party, wanted banned from circulation due to the political implications of the movie’s plot.  BRICS World Bank  Some have concluded that the United States implemented an A.I. that crippled China’s stock market in response to the announcement that China would be funding a “rival” world bank. China (presumed) hacked the NYSE and American Airlines.

7. Non-Government Geopolitical Hacking  Anonymous  Target ISIS for political and moral reasons after the Paris attacks.  Ghost Security  Remove ISIS political messages online as to remove possible recruits from recruiters.  Collected data on members of ISIS  Collaborated with U.S. government (according to one source)

8. Prediction of Cyber Wars  On the basis of geopolitical ideals, states, terrorists, or hacking groups will begin (have already begun) to target infrastructural designs.  As it stands, nations states have shown that this is already in the works as a tactic to enforce heavy handed politics.  If the Iran Nuclear Deal failed diplomatic means and the tension resulted in a military conflict, there was a cyber warfare plan in place to cripple Iran’s military and infrastructure including disabling communication, power and air defense.  It seemed to be, according to the article, a popular back-up plan as the end result would be less costly than “a full-scale war.”  Other organizations might not be as judicious and, thus, the predicted threat of cyber war.

9. Sources  http://www.csoonline.com/article/3013060/security/top-15-security-predictions- for-2016.html http://www.csoonline.com/article/3013060/security/top-15-security-predictions- for-2016.html  http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/world-war-c-cyber-attacks-motives-nation-510234 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/world-war-c-cyber-attacks-motives-nation-510234  http://www.hackmageddon.com/2016/01/11/2015-cyber-attacks-statistics/ http://www.hackmageddon.com/2016/01/11/2015-cyber-attacks-statistics/  http://geopolitics.co/2015/07/09/chinese-retaliate-against-west-by-hacking- nyse-united-airlines/ http://geopolitics.co/2015/07/09/chinese-retaliate-against-west-by-hacking- nyse-united-airlines/  http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/02/sony-hacking-seth-rogen-evan- goldberg http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/02/sony-hacking-seth-rogen-evan- goldberg  http://www.ibtimes.com/anonymous-hacking-isis-warns-collaborating-us- government-deeply-stupid-2226066 http://www.ibtimes.com/anonymous-hacking-isis-warns-collaborating-us- government-deeply-stupid-2226066  http://time.com/3928086/these-5-facts-explain-the-threat-of-cyber-warfare/ http://time.com/3928086/these-5-facts-explain-the-threat-of-cyber-warfare/  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/world/middleeast/us-had-cyberattack- planned-if-iran-nuclear-negotiations-failed.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/world/middleeast/us-had-cyberattack- planned-if-iran-nuclear-negotiations-failed.html?_r=0