Cyber Operations

Section ICyber Operations Introduction

Cyber attacks can produce nightmare scenarios. For example, a 2015 Lloyd’s of London study, “Business Blackout,” showed a possible 93 million Americans, across 11 states and the District of Columbia, being without power due to a cyber attack, costing an estimated $243 Billion, $1 Trillion in the most stressing scenario (Trevor Maynard, 2015). This is a factor of 25 times more than the $10 billion NotPetya attack in 2017 that brought global trade to a standstill (Greenberg, 2017).

In addition to catastrophic scenarios, we now have ransomware gangs, criminals, attacking critical infrastructure targets, and holding them hostage. For example, Russian ransomware gangs became famous for attacking critical infrastructure in Brazil (JBS Foods), Costa Rica (Government IT), and the United States (Colonial Oil, NEW Cooperative) in 2021. These critical infrastructure targets are considered strategic due to the life sustaining necessity of keeping these services available.

In the following Section I chapters, we will cover cyber operations in terms of their phased development. This includes a brief history of ISIS operations, and then Russia, in an overview of the use of cyber operations for tactical and strategic effects (Chapter 1). Chapter 2 includes a look at ISIS using cyber as a maneuver space in transitioning through the phases of an insurgency, maturing to a Phase III insurgent with a firm base in Raqqa, Syria. And Chapter 3 includes a review ...