Digital Warfare: Cybersecurity Implications of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63282/3050-9246.IJETCSIT-V4I4P104Keywords:
Cyberwarfare, Russia-Ukraine Conflict, Cybersecurity, Digital Defense, Geopolitical ImplicationsAbstract
Russia and Ukraine have defined a new era in interpreting cyber warfare and its role in contemporary interstate conflicts. Cyberattacks have been used as a warfare tactic intended to destabilize key structures, manipulate information, and weaken the defence of a nation. Several headline news reports, including the recent NotPetya ransomware attack and the cyber-riot manipulations targeting the power grid in Ukraine, indicate that state-sponsored hackers are active and very smart. Such cyber warfare did not only wound deeply within the geographic location of the targets but also in the global landscape, affecting MNCs and main systems. Such conflict shows how cyberspace is now used as the playing field while malware, phishing, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) are evidence of the major tools used in conflict. This article examines the cybersecurity concerns surrounding the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, understanding the shift in cyber threats and the expansion of the consequences of these cyberspace operations worldwide. In the following sections, we provide an analysis of such cases and data regarding incidents so that we can delineate specific weak points and new trends in cyber operations. The features of attribution are considered together with the moral and legal issues, the lack of norms regulating cyberspace, and the implications for developing international cyber policies. In conclusion, the conflict shows the need for synchronization of international defense policies and high development of resilience to counter the growing risks of cyber threat involvement in the geopolitical conflict
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