The Western-Pacific region could be considered as the center of the information technology industry: South Korea and Japan are leaders in the technology sector and the majority of factories producing hardware components is based in this region, and other economies are currently on the rise. Therefore, Western Pacific countries are on the one hand, likely to store industrial and military secrets and on the other hand, likely to want to acquire other countries’ knowledge, in light of the regional economic and military competition. For this reason, acquiring cyber capabilities could be seen as an attractive option for many states in the region. The motivation behind it is that Computer Network Attacks are a weapon that is easily acquired and that could project a force posture against states which possess a stronger military power, which is more expensive, lengthy, and complex to compete with, thus compensating the difference in the balance of power between countries (Heinl, 2016). Indeed, Computer Network Attacks have the characteristics of being cheap to develop – of course depending on the level of the sophistication of it – and to displace; furthermore, the problem of exact attribution still remains, and therefore the attacking countries could express a force posture, and maybe being blamed, but without incurring in external military interventions or judgments by the international law (Heinl, 2016). Not only, excluding China, Japan and South Korea, many countries in the region are promoting a fast-paced development of their cyber capabilities for social, economic and political reasons. Being able to interconnect their infrastructure and to reach rural areas, permits these countries to be more engaged in the international market (Feakin,T, Woodall, J, & Aiken, K., 2016). Given the fact that the advancement in technology brought every central node of social, economic, and military environments to be connected to cyberspace and interconnected one another, this has created vulnerabilities that were previously non-existent. This issue is worsened by the fact that, even though these state are experiencing an increase in their cyber capabilities, it isn’t going hand-to-hand with a strong culture of security. Therefore, on the one hand we have interconnected infrastructures and aggressive cyber postures, on the other hand these same infrastructures are weak to external Computer Network Attacks and Exploitation (Lewis, 2013). Linked to this, there is the rise of hacktivism, where collectives of hackers perform acts of activism online, damaging websites, stealing data, promoting their cause online, all against governments, therefore, there is the need for security and for being able to oppose these actions (Heinl, 2016). It is pretty straightforward, but it is worth underlining that China is the leader in the region as far as cyber capabilities are concerned. This is because cyberpower depends on the intelligence community and the military, and China possesses the best in the region and (Lewis, 2013). Following its example, many countries in the region, together with their proxies, are carrying out cyber espionage activities aimed at stealing technology, research plans, sensitive information like personal data, and intellectual property. This is likely to produce a closed loop, where as the countries in the Western Pacific become richer, then espionage to steal data accounts, personal data, financial secrets becomes more likely, blurring the distinction between espionage and cybercrime (Lewis, 2013). Indeed, in the Western Pacific region there are five more countries rapidly developing military cyber capabilities and, consequently, strategies and doctrines, namely: Australia, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan, while New Zealand and Brunei are developing only Computer Network Defenses (Lewis, 2013). One could enquire on the current state of this situation. Well, it is not very bright. The 2016 Asia-Pacific Defense Outlook stated that Australia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, part of the so-called “Cyber Five” nations – the other being New Zealand – of the Western Pacific region, are both the most heavily dependent countries on internet-based interactions, and the most lagging behind into implementing cyber security, and today they present themselves as nine times more vulnerable to Computer Network Attacks compared to other Asian countries (Arashi et al, 2016).

Cyber security and cyber strategies in the Western Pacific / A. Fasani. ((Intervento presentato al convegno SGRI : Italian Standing Group di Relazioni Internazionali tenutosi a Trento nel 2016.

Cyber security and cyber strategies in the Western Pacific

A. Fasani
2016

Abstract

The Western-Pacific region could be considered as the center of the information technology industry: South Korea and Japan are leaders in the technology sector and the majority of factories producing hardware components is based in this region, and other economies are currently on the rise. Therefore, Western Pacific countries are on the one hand, likely to store industrial and military secrets and on the other hand, likely to want to acquire other countries’ knowledge, in light of the regional economic and military competition. For this reason, acquiring cyber capabilities could be seen as an attractive option for many states in the region. The motivation behind it is that Computer Network Attacks are a weapon that is easily acquired and that could project a force posture against states which possess a stronger military power, which is more expensive, lengthy, and complex to compete with, thus compensating the difference in the balance of power between countries (Heinl, 2016). Indeed, Computer Network Attacks have the characteristics of being cheap to develop – of course depending on the level of the sophistication of it – and to displace; furthermore, the problem of exact attribution still remains, and therefore the attacking countries could express a force posture, and maybe being blamed, but without incurring in external military interventions or judgments by the international law (Heinl, 2016). Not only, excluding China, Japan and South Korea, many countries in the region are promoting a fast-paced development of their cyber capabilities for social, economic and political reasons. Being able to interconnect their infrastructure and to reach rural areas, permits these countries to be more engaged in the international market (Feakin,T, Woodall, J, & Aiken, K., 2016). Given the fact that the advancement in technology brought every central node of social, economic, and military environments to be connected to cyberspace and interconnected one another, this has created vulnerabilities that were previously non-existent. This issue is worsened by the fact that, even though these state are experiencing an increase in their cyber capabilities, it isn’t going hand-to-hand with a strong culture of security. Therefore, on the one hand we have interconnected infrastructures and aggressive cyber postures, on the other hand these same infrastructures are weak to external Computer Network Attacks and Exploitation (Lewis, 2013). Linked to this, there is the rise of hacktivism, where collectives of hackers perform acts of activism online, damaging websites, stealing data, promoting their cause online, all against governments, therefore, there is the need for security and for being able to oppose these actions (Heinl, 2016). It is pretty straightforward, but it is worth underlining that China is the leader in the region as far as cyber capabilities are concerned. This is because cyberpower depends on the intelligence community and the military, and China possesses the best in the region and (Lewis, 2013). Following its example, many countries in the region, together with their proxies, are carrying out cyber espionage activities aimed at stealing technology, research plans, sensitive information like personal data, and intellectual property. This is likely to produce a closed loop, where as the countries in the Western Pacific become richer, then espionage to steal data accounts, personal data, financial secrets becomes more likely, blurring the distinction between espionage and cybercrime (Lewis, 2013). Indeed, in the Western Pacific region there are five more countries rapidly developing military cyber capabilities and, consequently, strategies and doctrines, namely: Australia, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan, while New Zealand and Brunei are developing only Computer Network Defenses (Lewis, 2013). One could enquire on the current state of this situation. Well, it is not very bright. The 2016 Asia-Pacific Defense Outlook stated that Australia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, part of the so-called “Cyber Five” nations – the other being New Zealand – of the Western Pacific region, are both the most heavily dependent countries on internet-based interactions, and the most lagging behind into implementing cyber security, and today they present themselves as nine times more vulnerable to Computer Network Attacks compared to other Asian countries (Arashi et al, 2016).
giu-2016
Settore SPS/04 - Scienza Politica
Settore SPS/06 - Storia delle Relazioni Internazionali
Cyber security and cyber strategies in the Western Pacific / A. Fasani. ((Intervento presentato al convegno SGRI : Italian Standing Group di Relazioni Internazionali tenutosi a Trento nel 2016.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/473062
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