Topic: Future of Cyber Warfare
Country: Palestine
Delegate Name: Sydney Graham
School: Flint Southwestern Classical Academy
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Palestine position papers GLIMUN 2012 committees
A new battlefront-known as cyber warfare-has opened recently. This new method of attacking other countries is both extremely versatile and extremely dangerous. Cyber attacks are generally aimed at telecommunication (computer) networks of vital infrastructure systems: financial, power, traffic control systems, etc. These aggressions are usually carried out by hackers via viruses and worms. The following two factors are what makes cyber attacks so versatile and deadly as well as difficult to categorize.
Take into mind the people who carry out these assaults: hackers. Hackers can work in groups or as individuals and may or may not be authorized by a government, political or terrorist group. To classify whether the attack is a criminal act, military action, or espionage is dependent on which hacker(s) is responsible for the assault. In depth investigation along with a lot of time would be necessary to determine who the hackers are, how many of them there are, and if they are working arbitrarily or have been hired/ordered to launch the attack. While that aspect is complicated, it is easily determinable what type of action has been taken. Individuals or groups operating on their own for their own personal gain could be considered criminals. Government affiliated cyber attacks could be easily termed as military action or espionage. However, we must call upon our fellow nations to collaborate with us to determine this.
Remembering the method of assault used in cyber attack we must insist that it is vital to discuss ways of responding to cyber attacks and keeping the cyber community safe. Cyber attacks are carried out through worms and viruses, which damage computers, steal/damage information, are highly contagious, and have the ability of causing mass chaos. We believe that while cyber warfare must be utilized, it must also be moderated. Policies and procedures concerning classification of and appropriate response to cyber attacks must be established.
Another point Palestine must bring into light is that our focus should be on the hackers. At present, they are difficult to classify and usually hard to trace. They may or may not have government backing and could just as easily be unaffiliated individuals. It would be wise on our part to find, collect, and utilize these hackers to our own benefit as it would be foolish to let these dangerous individuals and groups run amok. Lack of action in addressing these people could lead to further disaster.
With the former discussed, the Palestinian Authority is willing to discuss the details of the solutions we suggested at this next United Nations conference. We are eager to present our ideas and knowledge in this area and display our ability to help formulate the appropriate resolution to this very broad and controversial issue.
