NOVA: Cyberwarfare Abstraction

Cyberwar Threat In the early ages of the internet, not much was known regarding cybersecurity as much as it was a threat back then. While the previous documentary touched upon the dangers of hacking and the usefulness of cryptography, this next documentary, entitled CyberWar Threat, deals with the dangers of cybersecurity at a national and global scale. 

We're living in an era, now, where we have to wonder whether people can cause damage with computer code that, before, they could only cause with a bomb.

– Shane Harris, Author of @War

Thanks to leaked documents courtesy of whistleblower Edward Snowden, we are able to uncover the details behind the National Security Agency (NSA) and much of their offensive tactics in cybersecurity protection. The NSA was otherwise known as the "hacking agency" responsible for the creation of the Stuxnet, but is now changing to the development of weapons. President Truman in 1952 proposed that the NSA should be all ears in eavesdropping on international phones and radios. The NSA's role transformed from a passive listener to an active spy when Gen. Michael Hayden became the the agency's director. It was also at this time that Pres. Bush ordered the NSA to prepare for a "full on war" after 9/11. 

This brought upon the creation of the Cyber Command, known as the first cyber weapon, where hackers can control, screenshot, and turn out one's webcam at will, and use Zero-Day Codes–codes used against user vulnerability unbeknownst to a company or target. Stuxnet used five of the privacy-breaching codes to hack a private company is Hamburg, Germany to search for a certain product's model number. 

While the destruction of Iranian centrifuges may have delayed Iran’s bomb program and forestalled an Israeli attack, the attack has opened a Pandora's Box, and now America's own critical infrastructure is vulnerable to retaliation and attack. With leading defense experts and investigative journalists who have probed the murky realm of criminal and strategic hacking, NOVA examines the chilling new reality of cyberwar in which no nation or individual is safe from attack.

Photo from NOVA PBS Official

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NOVA: Rise of Hackers Abstraction

In the early ages of the internet, not much was known regarding cybersecurity as much as it was a threat back then. In this documentary, Rise of the Hackers, covers the process of cybersecurity specialists Liam O'Murchu (Symantec) and Eric Chien and their experience regarding specific cybersecurity dilemmas that require utilising cryptography.

"The greatest threat today, to the world, is the keyboard"

– Sean McGurk, Rise of the Hackers

Photo from zdnet.com

The documentary begins with the retelling of the events regarding the hacking against Mat Honan (WIRED Magazine). Honan recalls that the attack began on his laptop, and then soon spread to the rest of his devices in an attempt to get a hold of his personal data. Amidst the threat, the hackers were able to contact him via his Twitter account and admitted they were a bunch of teenagers. It was during this exchange that Honan proposed a deal to the youths that if they were to confess their process of hacking, he would not press charges.

The youths complied and said that they were able to hack Hanon via the last three numbers of his credit card. By accessing these, they were able to deduce his Amazon account (which is connected to his credit card), then proceeds to his Apple devices, then within that his Google accounts (such as emails), and then eventually his Twitter account. 

The second story covered by the documentary is regarding the malware Stuxnet. As analysts for the giant cybersecurity firm Symantec, Eric and Liam investigate the viruses that pop up on computers around the world. Most malicious software, or malware, they see is pretty run of the mill. But in July, 2010, they started analyzing a baffling and crafty piece of code that another security company had just posted online: a virus nicknamed Stuxnet.

"This was truly a digital Pandora's Box. Once it was opened, you could not put the lid back on."

– Sean McGurk, regarding Stuxnet in Rise of the Hackers

Left to right: Liam O'Murchu and Eric Chien. Credit to Paul Cooke/@BBC

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Cybersecurity: Summary

Viruses and Malware -- a computer security vulnerability wherein one computer could send another instructions to delete everything on it or take it over, or impersonate another's identity by guessing, cracking, or extracting a password.  
These vulnerabilities will never be rid of, because they are built in the internet's very architecture.

Photo from checkpoint.com

Public-Key Cryptography

• Begins with a publicly available number

• Addition of secret numbers, Private number A, to be mixed using;

• Modular Math, or mathematical operations, with a another number;

• Private Number B, to create a secret key.

For example, one's email service will use this secret key to transform and scramble your message. It will then transmit your coded message to your recipient, wich will also use this secret key to reverse the transformations and reveal the message you've sent.


Hacking -- "creative" problem-solving that takes advantage of the property of things in unexpected ways. 

Computer Hacking -- "creative" problem-solving that takes advantage of the property of computers and networks in unexpected ways. 

When one hears the word "hacker," it initially gives off a negative connotation, but the role of a hacker is flexible; Hackers can be a range of people, from criminals for theft, government for surveillance workers, to hacktivists for political agendas. Whether they're good or bad depends on why they hack in the first place. 

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Encryption: Essential Questions

1. How is encryption accomplished to safeguard data exchange?

Photo from cdn.pixel.privacy.com

According to us.norton.com, Encryption is the process of converting ordinary text, such as a typed email or message, into an unreadable format called “cipher text.” This helps protect the confidentiality of digital data either stored on computer systems or transmitted through a network like the internet.

When the intended recipient accesses the message, the information is translated back in the form of decryption.

To unlock the message, both the sender and the recipient have to use a “secret” encryption key — a collection of algorithms that scramble and unscramble data back to a readable format.

2. What methods are used to compress data?

There two methods used to compress data, lossy and lossless compression.

3. What is lossy and lossless data compression?

According to ukessays.com, Lossless data compression makes use of data compression algorithms that allows the exact original data to be reconstructed from the compressed data. This can be contrasted to lossy data compression, which does not allow the exact original data to be reconstructed from the compressed data.

4. What ethical dilemmas are created from access to data?

When one is give access to data, this means we have a plethora of information such as charts, recipes, art, records, music, etc. at our disposal. One major ethical dilemma that may arise from this is the means one of accessing data (and disclosed data), and the manner and usage of such.
Mary Ann Baily from nap.edu outlined positions at both extremes of the policy debate over data access, then made the case for pursuing a middle ground—striking a balance between the right to be left alone and the obligation to cooperate in the pursuit of communal goals.

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