Information Warfare: November 28, 2004

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The United States Department of Defense believes that Taiwan is vulnerable to a devastating cyberwar attack by China. Taiwans economy is, technologically, one of the most advanced on the planet. All manner of commercial and government facilities are connected to the Internet and controlled by networks of computers. In the last few years, accidents and natural disasters have shown that taking one or two of these Taiwanese industrial sites off line can have wide ranging implications. One power plant or communications facility taken down can shut down much of the island. It is also known that Chinese cyberwarriors have been probing Taiwans Internet infrastructure regularly. Chinese and Taiwanese hackers skirmish openly, defacing or shutting down individual websites. But the Department of Defense believes all this is but a prelude to a major Chinese cyberwar attack on Taiwan that would cut the island off from the outside world and shut down many commercial and government operations. Making such an attack work depends on being able to attack a constantly shifting array of vulnerabilities. Because of that, no one in Taiwan will discuss details, and the Chinese, officially at least, have nothing to say.

 

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