By
Noor Fatima
Africa-Press – Lesotho. Globalization is generally understood as a characteristic feature of the contemporary world, and there is no unified definition of this phenomenon that can be given.
What it basically comes down to is that globalization is a complex of processes that have successfully rearranged economic, political, and social ties across the borders, creating high-density interregional and intercontinental webs.
Although the importance of globalization to enhance technological advancement, economic integration, and cultural exchange is commonly hailed, it has also put states at new and advanced vulnerabilities, especially in the cyberspace sector.
In spite of the claims that it is an ineluctable side product of human innovation, the rate of globalization has advanced considerably due to improved digital communication and transportation technology.
Other researchers advance the idea that its origin can be traced to ancient migration and trade networks, and the interconnectedness is the property of human evolution. The digital age has, however, increased this connectivity to the extent that it is no longer what it was.
The advent of the internet and instant communication has transformed relations and life in the world, raising the living standards of the developed countries and also bringing in developed forms of threats.
Among these, the most urgent is the so-called cyber warfare one, as a brand-new area that breaks the inner paradigms of national security and national sovereignty.
In the modern world characterized by hyperconnectivity, the global digital networks have the capacity to enable the state and non-state actors to dictate cyber operations that are cross-border with far-reaching consequences.
The chain of modern society, including the financial system, healthcare, energy, and military communication systems, is both a strength and a weak point to take advantage of. An attack on a single node may spread horizontally across systems and into borders of different countries, endangering social equilibrium.
This necessitates the need to comprehend the motives, what they can do, and the strategies they are likely to use, and to develop adaptive national security models that can adapt to this changing environment. Technology is the powerful aspect that can present change in almost all spheres of life.
The spread of the use of smartphones, the construction of smart cities, and the implementation of blockchain systems indicate the high rate of transformation of personal life and institutional life, as well as their digitalization.
This digital transformation, however, also came with an abundance of cyber risks. Not only is the new threat environment vigilant, but it is advanced enough to require precedent defense.
Such qualities of cyberspace as anonymity, easy accessibility, legal confusion, and unequal distribution of power make the latter a beneficial environment for conflicts, spying, and interference by an extended number of opponents.
The changes of cyber threats have been gradual yet far-reaching. The history of cybersecurity could be established back in the early 1970s when the Creeper and its antivirus Reaper became the first self-replicating and antivirus applications, respectively.
Commercial Antivirus software was introduced in the 1980s, the same decade that the 90s witnessed a boom of online crime since more people got access to the internet worldwide. Cybercrime was being organized and more technologically advanced in the early 2000s, with state-sponsored cyber manipulation starting to take shape.
By 2026, the worldwide cybersecurity market is expected to exceed 345 billion, which can be seen as a way of demonstrating the magnitude of the problem and the necessity to take measures in preventing it.
Cyber capabilities are being more and more incorporated as part of the greater strategic arsenals of states. Hybrid warfare, the idea of a combination of conventional military methods and digital warfare, has turned out to be one of the central concepts of modern combat.
Of particular interest is the use, in 2010, of the Stuxnet malware, apparently by the United States and Israel, to destroy nuclear centrifuges in Iran.
These cyber operations have the potential to create strategic disruption to adversaries at no political or humanitarian cost of direct warfare, and they can be covered behind the plausible deniability of it.
This is because the Russian-Ukraine conflict presents one of the most vivid examples of the practicality of cyber warfare. Beginning in 2013, Russia has carried out a series of cyberattacks on Ukrainian infrastructure that grew in intensity in the run-up to its full-scale invasion in 2022.
The malware was used to carry out operations like attacks using destructive malware referred to as the Acid Rain, which interfered with satellite communications and even the monitoring of wind turbines, as well as the internet being cut off through parts of Europe and even North Africa.
Such cyberattacks were not isolated maneuvers but rather a part of Russia’s broad hybrid warfare policy. They wanted to disrupt Ukrainian rule, create disinformation, disorient people, and tear the society apart without the specificity of any military attack.
The non-state actors have also become substantial sources of cyber menace. The organizations and groups that operate in the cyberspace now include the hacktivist groups and criminal syndicates, terrorist organizations and inclusion of corporate groups as well.
They have different motives. Their motives could be as varied as financial gain, ideological expression, or strategic disruption, but their capability to cause harm is real.
In 2007, there were Estonian cyberattacks, largely blamed on Russian patriotic hackers, that led to the paralysis of banking systems, ministerial websites, and media houses. The incident was not scientifically connected to the Russian state, but it revealed the nature of destruction of non-state actors.
At least, these groups are involved in cyber espionage and/or sabotage with or without official state sponsorship to make it more difficult to attribute culpability and strike back.
The consequences upon national security are enormous and extremely troubling. Hacking is capable of bringing the most vital services to their knees, stealing classified information, and undermining democratic efforts in the minds of a citizenry.
A case in point is the Ghostnet which was found out in 2009 and had penetrated networks in over 100 countries expressly posing a challenge of digital sovereignty and spying.
In a similar vein, in 2016 Russia was charged with influencing the US presidential election race via cyber incursion, disinformation, and explorations of electoral infrastructure, which was a move designed to discredit democracy as well as geopolitical stability.
With cyber warfare still being in development, the boundary between the peaceful and aggressive becomes more grey. Digital battlefield involves situations where attacks cannot be tracked and consequently acknowledged, where it is difficult to ascribe such an attack, and where effects, though sometimes silent, are vast.
The necessity of taking good care of cybersecurity is pressing and hard to exaggerate. In order to combat such threats, the states have to invest in integrated cybersecurity systems.
Not just firewalls, intrusion and detection systems, and encrypting data, but more sophisticated threat intelligence using the technology of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The critical systems have to be secured through proactive monitoring, protocols of quick responses and regular vulnerability checks. Nevertheless, system-based countermeasures are not enough.
It is also crucial to have a subtle perception of how humans conduct themselves online. Behavioral science insights have to be involved in cybersecurity strategies in order to predict, prevent, and respond to internal and external threats more effectively.
The high security levels of cyber resilience can be achieved through awareness campaigns, psychological profiling of threat actors, and an education program for both users and professionals.
The other pillar of success in cybersecurity is international cooperation. No nation can take on these threats independently because of the nature of the internet, which is borderless. International rules and conventions, codes of ethics, and laws have to be developed to govern cyberspace behavior and punish the violators.
Moreover, the worldwide issue of cybersecurity talent shortage will require making large investments both in learning and educating the current generation of cybersecurity experts and investing in innovative approaches like gamified learning, virtual labs, and outreach strategies to appeal to people of different backgrounds and interests to the industry.
Globalization has finally facilitated and strengthened the emergence of cyber threats. Though interconnectedness may be one of the most effective drivers of economic and social development, it also ensures the spawning of fresh opportunities through which dangerous outcomes may be realized should it be left unchecked, acting devastatingly to malicious parties.
It is not cybersecurity and only a technical need; it is a national need that is necessary to protect sovereignty, stability, and the democratic order in the twenty-first century.
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