cyber attack

What Is Cyber Warfare – Is It The Beginning Of A New World War?

By Ranggi R.

Published on April 28th, 2023

There is no country that wants to start a war. However, conflict happens sometimes. Usually, it happens in a conventional way.


Since digital transformation is accelerating and the number of people relying on the internet has skyrocketed, conflicts can also occur online.

We have already known that cyber attacks can be launched by anyone, in any country, in real-time. Moreover, cybercriminals launch and aim cyber attacks on a country as their target.


This is what makes peace can be broken on an international scale by taking down a country’s internet or the like in front of a computer from a house.

“Cyber attacks, unconsciously and slowly, have reshaped warfare in the modern age.”

Cyber Warfare, As It is Called

As we can see, a war can be declared digitally. It is known as cyber warfare.


Cyber warfare is using computers and the internet to launch cyber attacks or threats to wage war  against a nation-state or international organization.


The intention is to attack and cause damage to the digital infrastructure of a nation or multilateral organization with computer viruses, denial-of-service attacks, or others.  

Of course, it would have significant repercussions once a country was compromised by an attack out of nowhere.


Therefore, a cyber attack can be intended to start a war.

Can Cyber Warfare Lead to A Real War?

Many people wonder whether cyber wars can lead to real wars.


Some international security experts believe that. They have warned that cyber attacks launched to attack a nation could lead to a real war.


However, it is difficult for them to determine what type of cyber attack counts as an act of war, because cyber attacks vary in many forms.


So, let’s take a look at the physical attack between Ukraine and Russia. 

russia war

Ukraine vs Russia War

Last year, in 2022, Russia under Vladimir Putin’s power finally invaded Ukraine.


Tensions between these two countries have existed since 2014 and increased in 2021. In early 2022 before the invasion, a cyber attack on the Ukrainian government website occurred.


The impact of the cyber attacks was really significant, as Russian hackers successfully undermined the distribution of medicines, food, and relief supplies.

This proves that phishing emails, malware, and the like can be weaponized. We have entered a new phase of the war.


While cyber warfare can be part of a real war from one perspective, there are many people who really hope that it will only remain online, in case cyber warfare has already happened.

Increasing Control Systems

Like many entities, a public body has digital assets as well. What makes a public body’s digital assets different is that the organization does not only own its own digital assets.


It also has sensitive information which belongs to everyone.

The public sector is one of the sectors that need digital asset protection the most, if not the sector that needs it the most.


To facilitate it all, cloud storage is the best choice because cloud computing has scaled up the safety of digital assets and digital protection.


Read how cyber security feature is important to be implemented.