As Almaty the biggest city in Kazakhstan, went up in flames, the government blocked access to the internet. In a world so dependent on the internet, the Kazakhs rushed to empty out the ATM’s. With no communication, the country essentially shutdown. This article does a great job explaining the importance of our reliance on the internet. When the government shutdown its internet access, it was an attempt to curve the ongoing protests. “The lack of information multiplied the chaos and disinformation.” Said 32 year old protester Darkhan Sharipov.
This topic is of rising importance. The ability to shut a countries internet access off basically allows for countries to shut down a countries communication and economics. With the ongoing efforts between Russia and Ukraine, it was concerning when 2 Ukrainian banks went down. The banks had been briefly taken offline by a series of denial-of-service attacks, in which huge amounts of traffic overwhelm a network. Ukrainian officials claim the attack “bore traces of foreign intelligence services.” “In the event of a real military conflict, it is the internet infrastructure that will be destroyed in the first place,” said Mikhail Klimarev. This confirms that cyberattacks are a real security threat often looked over by people. Shutting off power affects energy sources, water and supply lines.
This relates directly to international relations because many countries use cyberattacks to “poke the bear”. Without any treaties, cyber attacks are not an act of war. Completely shutting off a country and its economics have no direct consequence. Cyber attacks are especially dangerous because often times its impossible to find out who started it. Cyber attacks can be carried out by special teams of the countries brightest, or a 17 year old kid sitting in his moms house. Cyber warfare needs treaties written in its place to protect the world from this emerging threat.