From: Cornell International Affairs Review
By
2014, Vol. 8 No. 1 | pg. 1/1
Introduction
The creation of the computer network system and its spread throughout the international realm has opened doors for new ways of gathering information as well as manipulating this information for both protective and malicious purposes. While the material stored within computer systems is often thought of as being privy to the user of that system and whomever the user decides to share their data with, the rise in cyberattacks has proven otherwise. Cyber “crime” or “attacks”─the exploitation of Internet and, more generally, computer vulnerabilities in order to access and use private information ─rose as personal data began being stored on system networks since the nascent years of the internet.1
Policies such as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 19862 and the proposed National Defense Authorization Act for 20143 have establish(ed) guidelines for unauthorized tapping into the systems of the U.S. government as well as financial and commerce institutions. While cyber-attacks were initially thought of as a method used by individual or small bands of hackers attempting to access information for personal use4, discussions of cyber-crime have shifted to the offensive mechanisms of hacking employed by governmental organizations. With large-scale attacks such as the Morris worm replicated in UNIX systems across the globe in 19885 and, more recently, the infection of 30,000 Saudi Aramco (world’s largest oil producer) networks with a self-replicating Shamoon virus in 2012,6 it has become clear that the title of “hacker” is no longer reserved for individuals but extends to governments as well.
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