Cyber Security in an Information Warfare Age

Abstract

On October 19^th, 2018, the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS) Vancouver hosted its ninth roundtable meeting which covered “Cybersecurity in an Information Warfare Age.” The following presentation was hosted by Dr. Steven Pearce, a lecturer in the School of Computing Sciences at Simon Fraser University and an astrophysicist by trade. Dr. Pearce has over 30 years of experience in mathematics and technology, focusing on the theory of technology and socio-technology. In his presentation, Dr. Pearce used these themes to highlight how technological advancements accelerated the destructive capabilities of humans, while simultaneously warning of conflating cyberwarfare with information warfare as it detracts from their unique underpinnings and objectives. The subsequent roundtable discussion centered around a case study where Chinese microchips that create backdoor access to systems were found embedded in server motherboards that Amazon purchased. After discovery, they were allegedly shown to have been distributed to banks, companies and US defence agencies. Thereafter, audience members discussed the security implications of hardware hacks and what the Canadian government and citizens could change to safeguard against both software and hardware hacks.