WARS have significantly shaped world history, with five stages: first-generation warfare, second-generation warfare, third-generation warfare and modern warfare. First-generation warfare involves ancient battles with tribal flags and weapons.
Second-generation warfare involves advancements in weapons and techniques, while third-generation warfare also known as “modern warfare” involves the establishment of air forces and long-range weaponry. The fourth-generation warfare began with the Gulf War and the breakup of former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
The fifth generation warfare is considered to be more dangerous as it threatens global peace in the 21st century. Instead of using force to subdue one another, nations are attempting to do it through cyber operations during this time. Disinformation and social engineering abound online, and cyber attacks and manipulation are commonplace. Nations are fighting the war of “information and perception”. Protecting a country’s vital infrastructure has never been more difficult, as the world watches as warfare increasingly moves into the domains of cyber attacks, information manipulation and unconventional tactics. A nation’s essential infrastructure assumes increasing significance in the context of Fifth Generation Warfare (5GW), as it is the primary target for a variety of unconventional threats. The term “critical infrastructure” describes the components of the infrastructure that are most crucial to lose or compromise: buildings, networks, systems, assets or processes.
However, in Pakistan’s case, the growing threat to its vital infrastructure and essential information infrastructure is not being adequately addressed by a concerted effort. There have been several cyber attacks in Pakistan. Pakistan’s biggest cybercrime was in 2021 when hackers broke into the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and took $30k worth of personal data. The data was sold on Russian networks even after the system was restored. This resulted from the use of an outdated version of Microsoft Hyper-V software.
Pakistani music streaming platform Patari was hacked, exposing 275,000 user information and credentials due to a misconfiguration of their MongoDB database on Russian and English platforms. Hackers also targeted K-electric, stealing critical and sensitive data on the citizens, including CNICs, bank account information and NTNs. The hackers demanded a $7 million ransom and threatened to sell K-electric’s customers’ information on the dark web. Nevertheless, K-electric chose not to take the chance and instead discarded 8.5 GB of the stolen data.
Particularly, the organizations and apps that need the private data of their clients ought to exercise caution when it comes to the kind of software they use and whether it is more vulnerable to cyber attacks. It’s best to make it a practice to update the program regularly or to have it update itself automatically and always have the funds on hand to purchase the most recent upgrades for the software. It is essential to have well-defined cyber deterrence tactics supported by the capacity to identify and take revenge on adversaries. Investing in cyber talent guarantees a staff with the necessary skills to counter sophisticated threats. To respond to transnational cyber threats in a coordinated manner and to encourage responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, international collaboration and diplomacy are essential developments.
—The writer is a researcher, DHA Suffa University, Karachi.
