The next generation of cyber warfare isn't that far

Dozens of Israeli websites were compromised last week as Iranian hackers and proxies of the Islamic republic rallied for their annual Quds Day cyberattack.

According to University of Haifa Professor Gabriel Weimann, while these attacks were not very sophisticated and posed a low risk to any critical investiture, Israel must continue to prepare for ongoing and more complex attacks in the future.

Is a cyber war brewing in the Middle East?

In the Middle East there has been an increased role of cyber war and cyber security, much as the region is also at the forefront of experiments with new weapon systems.

Iranian media revealed details on Monday about a cyber attack they claimed to have suffered at the port of Shahid Rajaei. The port had recently seen the installation of new container terminals and oil projects. Iranian media personalities and commentators have also boasted about a “cyber attack” against Israel, with memes posted that show Israel and Iranian flags next to futuristic computerized backgrounds. The incidents underpin wider cyber tensions and Iran’s attempt to build up its cyber offensive capabilities in recent years.

Cyber Warfare: Modern Front-lines

However, in some respects, cyber warfare is a hard term to fully define. Many often view the term itself is as a misnomer, due to the fact that a full out cyber war has not happened before. In fact, offensive cyber actions committed in history have been rejected and disavowed by those involved. Additionally, many experts question what full out cyber warfare would even look like.

However, despite these misgivings, a wide range of states, including the United States, Russia, China, Iran, and Vietnam have offensive and defensive cybersecurity operations and capabilities. Actors will often leverage these threats that, in the very least, support more traditional means of warfare.

ManTech’s cyber warfare technology adapted for space systems

ManTech has launched a new service it calls “Space Range” aimed at government agencies and satellite operators looking to protect their networks and identify where they have weak spots.

The Space Range is a virtual satellite command and control center with hardware in the loop. Red teams perpetrate network attacks to help find hidden vulnerabilities and software bugs. The system was created to “help protect U.S. military, intelligence community and commercial space assets from virulent cyberattacks,” the company said May 4 in a news release.

The space wargaming product is ManTech’s latest effort to expand its cybersecurity business to the space domain.