In previous articles, we have described hardware viruses as minor modifications of very complex circuit boards that make the basic components of every modern electronic chip. The great danger these new virus types pose is that they are, in fact, nearly undetectable because they are dormant until activated. A few thousand additional circuits among a few millions on a chip cannot be revealed by routine quality control. When this chip is one out of a few thousands getting into an electronic device, what chance is there that it will be discovered? As the design and production of any modern device is a complex task being executed by hundreds of independent teams on several continents, nobody can truly be responsible for the integrity of a computer or a smart phone. A hardware virus can therefore be as dormant as a mole for years, until activated by a certain date, by an outside message, or by a sequence of internal events. Hardware viruses could be introduced into everyday electronics by a criminal organization or a foreign Intelligence Agency. Unlike a software-virus, which can be handled by antivirus software and reprogramming, hardware viruses cannot be dealt with without replacing the whole physical component. A point being made in our previous articles was that it is common knowledge that most modern electronic chips are today manufactured in Asia. Would it really be an insurmountable task for a Chinese Intelligence Agency to have a subcontractor tweak a ubiquitous chip? Your answer is as good as mine.
The reality of hardware viruses cannot be swept aside: Not only are they theoretically obvious, they have been manufactured by several University laboratories and their potential nefarious activity documented. But we are now told that an actual hardware virus has been detected! The chip in which a "backdoor" has been detected is a very common component of many applications-including communications and military equipment. The hardware misconstruction allows for an external input to modify programs and memory contents of the final device. This is a very serious revelation, which to date has only been explored in fiction. But, funnily, it happens that the manufacturer of the potentially malicious chip is... American. This does not weaken the fact, of course, that hardware viruses are already a reality, and a very serious reality at that.
There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the next war will be fought in cyber-space as well as in the physical world. Civilian, financial, and military infrastructure will be the targets of severe disruptions in the case of conflict. And the race to be better prepared-both offensively and defensively - is being run right now. Clearly you cannot stop this progress, which, of late, we are told, has spawned a new generation of software viruses. These are called "Frankenstein" viruses: they are based on snippets of innocuous code that exist in legitimate software and trusted programs, but which assemble into a virus by themselves under the designed circumstances. These viruses are nearly undetectable because they avoid the statistical patterns and the malicious architecture of common viruses. They take legitimate building blocks of accepted and universal software, to build, in your device, a malicious entity.
If you bundle together these new hardware and next generation software viruses, and add it to what we already know about malfeasance by big companies and country-backed agencies, you have the recipe for potential havoc in our lives. But is it that real a threat? Is it not all conjecture? Would these cyber-weapons really be used by our enemies? The answer is short and clear: They already are!
Sources close to Intelligence agencies have admitted that the Suxnet virus, which successfully destroyed Uranium-enriching Iranian centrifuges, was an American-Israeli operation. It is not clear, however, whether the leading part in the Operation was American or Israeli, but that is not important. There have been more virus attacks on Iran since, notably the Intelligence-gathering Flame virus, and it looks as if Iran has retaliated in part. Official American policy states that any cyber-attack of American infrastructure will be considered a Casus Belli. In light of the universal principle of reciprocity, the US is therefore at war with Iran, having willfully targeted Iranian infrastructure, deep into underground bunkers. This war is going on, and there is probably much more we do not know.
And Iran is probably not alone as a target or as an instigator of cyber-operations. Any country with super- or regional-power aspirations must be preparing some kind of cyber warfare capability. China has publicly admitted they do invest a lot of money in those capabilities. And is it that difficult?
Google has warned users recently, when appropriate, of State-sponsored hacking. Several concerted cyber-attacks emanating from China have targeted American companies. International groups of hackers, like LuzSec, have hacked into corporations and government computers, including the CIA (By the way, for people who have read Rain Fund, one of the members of LuzSec arrested in the UK was a young man with Asperger's Syndrome). Every day, we are informed of another security breach that has tens of thousands of Credit Card details stolen. Need I say more?
There is a secret cyber-war going on...
Reality is probably extending much further than the fiction. The basic premises of Rain Fund are looking frighteningly more and more plausible every day...
Marc Brem is the author of the thriller
"RAIN FUND" (Action, Mystery and Suspense). He is a retired R&D senior executive from a major Chemical manufacturing corporation, with degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. On top of his business and scientific career, he was a karate champion and holds black belts in several Martial Arts. He is the author, under another pseudonym, of a leading Martial Arts treatise. And has also served in the army, where he has seen combat in a special forces unit.
