Definition[]
A cyber weapon is
| “ | an information technology-based capability for conducting some kind of cyber intrusion."[1] | ” |
Overview[]
Cyber weapons in the hands of an adversary pose a significant threat to a nation's ability to protect itself and to wage war. Typical cyber weapons include:
- angle reflectors
- autonomous mobile cyber weapons
- backdoors in commonly used software
- botnets
- defense shields against electronic attack
- electronic countermeasures
- false-target generators
- info-blockades
- infrared decoys
- IP spoofing
- keyloggers
- malware
- rootkits
- sniffing
- spamming
- spyware
- transient electromagnetic devices
- Trojan horses
- viruses, and
- worms.
"Outcomes can include: compromise of confidentiality/theft of secrets, identity theft, web-defacements, extortion, system hijacking and service blockading. Cyberweapons are used individually, in combination and also blended simultaneously with conventional 'kinetic' weapons as force multipliers."[2]