INFORMATION SECURITY: MODERN THREATS TO CIVIL SOCIETY

Чернигова И.Ю.¹, Калинина В.В.²

¹Студент, Иркутский Государственный Лингвистический Университет; ²Кандидат филологических наук, доцент, Иркутский Государственный Лингвистический Университет

ИНФОРМАЦИОННАЯ БЕЗОПАСНОСТЬ: СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ УГРОЗЫ ГРАЖДАНСКОМУ ОБЩЕСТВУ

Аннотация

Статья посвящена проблеме безопасности в сети Интернет и содержит в себе конкретные примеры из этой области. Кроме того, описана роль государства и его структур, а также несовершенство правовой системы по выбранной тематике.

Ключевые слова: безопасность в интернете, приватность, вирус, атака.

Chernigova I.Y.¹, Kalinina V.V.²

¹Student, Irkutsk State Linguistic University; ²PhD in philology, Аssociate Рrofessor, Irkutsk State Linguistic University

INFORMATION SECURITY: MODERN THREATS TO CIVIL SOCIETY

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the issue of privacy and Internet security and provides a broad range of examples in this sphere. The role of a government and its services is highlighted as well as imperfection of the legal system in this problem.

Keywords: Internet security, privacy, virus, attack.

There is no doubt that the world is extensively covered with the Internet and it is also hard to deny that the modern society is in the huge dependence of a broad variety of networking systems presented now: bank accounts are linked to bank databases and personal data is stored on different governmental or private servers. Thus, the problem of cyber security concerns every internet user today.

A huge value in a modern cyber society takes the social networks phenomenon. At first glance only the probability of being under a big brother sight is seen, but there is also another viewpoint.

 Most of all, the right use of social networks is a way of influencing public opinion, so it has recently been revealed that the U.S. government started the development of software which could create multiple fake social media profiles in order to manipulate and control public opinion on political issues by promoting propaganda [1]. It could also be used as surveillance to find out public opinions.

The method is extremely convenient: a person only needs to write a “proper” text and promote it on the Internet: users will share this information as well, so the goal of spreading is reached. It is not only governments, who may use this method, but also some private individuals, business companies and other entities.

Moreover, social networks enable to get “live” analytics, which helps to track things, that people like and dislike, what they usually click and post. This information is often of high importance to knowing a way of influencing people.

On January 2012 the foreign intelligence service of Russia announced a tender for developing new methods of blogosphere monitoring [2]. It is not new for the governmental intelligence or private intelligence firms to do such work. Some countries recognized this danger earlier, some later, but it is obvious that social networks are going to be a new cyber battlefield for the humanity.

One of the countries that could see a great potential of censorship in order to provide the governmental and individual safety was China. So called “Great firewall of China” consists of a broad range of laws and Internet regulations provided by state-owned ISPs. The system is considered to be the most advanced and extensive form of Internet repression in the world. Moreover, the authorities have a possibility not only to block website content, but also to monitor the Internet access of individuals.

So BBC, Voice of America, some Hong Kong and Taiwan news websites are blocked in China [3]. An international version of Google is also under a ban, the Chinese have to use a Chinese version of this search engine called Google.cn, which provides advanced censorship regulations as well.

Besides China, Iran has its own unique system of censorship. Iranian filter software blocks reformist political sites, news media and websites that provide tools to help users conceal their Internet identity. Moreover, in preparation for the March 2012 elections, the Iran government instituted strict rules on cybercafes and it is preparing to launch the national Internet [4]. It also requires all Iranians to register their web sites with the Ministry of art and culture.

But even these measures couldn’t preserve Iran from hackers’ attacks. For instance, Iranian industrial systems were infected by a highly sophisticated computer worm called Stuxnet, which was targeted on Siemens software and equipment, maintaining Iranian uranium enrichment infrastructure. Kaspersky Lab concluded that the sophisticated attack could only have been conducted "with nation-state support” [5]. It was suspected that Israel and the United States may have been involved.

Thus the decision of several countries to develop and then deploy the Stuxnet played a significant role in the global militarization of the Internet and it will affect habitual sorts of warfare strategy as the society moves into unexplored and unspecified territory using information technologies.

It is necessary to denote, first of all these global changes are caused by contemporary information technology progress. Information security does not only cover a broad range of governmental interests, but personal ones as well. Moreover, governments have already become aware of these possibilities, but most people still underestimate it. The incomplete legal system and the lack of interstate agreements and cooperation still remain a big problem in this field of studies, as it doesn’t cover modern threats and warfare in a full measure. The case of Edward Snowden greatly demonstrates the problem of privacy on the Internet and the role of secret services in it. As it was reported, the leaked documents published by newspapers with Snowden’s help influenced the society and many people went for demonstrations demanding proper security of their privacy all over the world. People at these demonstrations were raged out by the actions of authorities spying them through Google, Apple, Microsoft services and called upon using anonymous services such as Tor. [6] Many foreign countries were also unaware of American government’s actions towards their national privacy.

Finally, progressive technologies play a big role in the world politics and modern society: it may influence the whole society, cripple vulnerable governmental plants, thus leading to great material loss and environmental catastrophes.