reply to discusion below
Global War on Terror (GWOT)
The GWOT is not over, I believe that the GWOT will always find advancement, especially due to the nature of technology alone, where now we have cyberwarfare or new pathways for malice made available.
Cyberwarfare or the of use of computers to maliciously target other nations has been highly relevant since the evolution of the internet. For instance, in 2018, 13 Russians were indicted for interfering in the 2018 US elections and the US and British both exposed Russia as the perpetrator behind the NotPetya cyberattack, which was initially disguised as ransomware (Porche III, 2018). The NotPetya is a virus attack that encrypts master files in an infected computer behind the scenes, spreading by itself through a backdoor method all while requesting bitcoin payments to restore files (Fruhlinger, 2017). It’s a dangerous evolution of a computer virus or malware where it resembles ransomware, propagates like a worm, encrypts a whole drive and lockdown the system. The election meddling and NotPetya are just two examples of the advancements in technology that fuels terroristic activities- that also have no end in sight.
In March 2019, the Syrian Democratic Forces claimed that ISIS had lost their last territorial safe haven who were backed by the US, British and French (Wedeman & Said-Moorhouse, 2019). While the humanitarian in me hopes that this is true, I do not believe that the ongoing war against terrorism is over, due to my case in point, technology and the internet and the influence it has worldwide.
Moreover, the rescinding of the Presidential Policy Directive 20 has been a controversial decision for the Trump administration because the replacement was never really discussed. It is argued that this drawback of certain regulations governing approval processes for offensive cyberattacks conducted against US adversaries leaves too many risks unaddressed (Council on Foreign Relations, 2018). This undermines intelligence, yet many argue that cyber weapons are less lethal than physical ones, where the attack on power plants and defense systems require custom tailored capabilities (Council on Foreign Relations, 2018). I find this to be appalling, technology and history shows that the US should be ahead in the cyberworld rather than turning the eye because it doesn’t seem like a direct threat.
References
Council on Foreign Relations. (Sept 10, 2018). What do the trump administration’s chages t ppd-20 mean or the u.s. offensive cyber operations? Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/blog/what-do-trump-administrations-changes-ppd-20-mean-us-offensive-cyber-operations
Fruhlinger, J. (October 17, 2017). Petya ransomware and notpetya malware: What you need to know now. CSO from IDG. Retrieved from https://www.csoonline.com/article/3233210/petya-ransomware-and-notpetya-malware-what-you-need-to-know-now.html
Porche III, R. I. (March 3, 2018). Getting ready to fight the next (cyber) war. RAND. Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/blog/2018/03/getting-ready-to-fight-the-next-cyber-war.html
Wedeman, B. & Said-Moorhouse, L. (March 23, 2019). Isis has lost its final stronghold in syria, the syrian democratic forces says. CNN World. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/23/middleeast/isis-caliphate-end-intl/index.html
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