1

Cyber Security and National Security

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Code and Number

Instructor’s Name

Date
 2

Introduction

Every time the national cybersecurity policy is discussed, the same stories keep on

emerging. Whether the examples are termed cyber espionage, acts of cyberwar, cyberterrorism,

or hacktivism, they all influence national interest, and there is a corresponding national cyber

defense measure to be implemented. Regrettably, it is hard to identify cyber criminals and their

motivations within cyberspace. For this reason, countries are classifying all serious cyberattacks

as cyberwar. This tends to distress national security and also propagate a cyberwar arms race

leading to less security and instability for everyone. Cybersecurity is the process and technology

that is designed to protect devices and networks from attacks, unauthorized access, and damage.

It is critical for the country’s hospitals, large corporations, and the military because data is the

cornerstone of any organization. In case such data is exploited, then there will be many risks.

The rationale of this discourse is to provide insight into how cyber security and national security

have effected one another.

Problem Statement

In the recent past, individuals and organizations have harnessed cyberspace and

established new firms, a new economic sphere, and a vibrant social space that are intertwined

with our daily lives. Equally, individuals, governments, and subnational groups are using

cyberspace to further their interests via malicious activities (Christen, Gordijn & Loi, 2020).

Terrorists have been recruiting, training, and even targeting government organizations and

security systems through the Internet. In doing so, they can steal classified data, and money, and

develop capabilities to destroy, disrupt, or threaten the dispensation of critical services (Macnish

& Van der Ham, 2020). In 2018, Chinese hackers managed to infiltrate companies in the United

States such as Apple and Amazon interrupting the country’s technology supply chain.
 3

Military intelligence and national security are looking for malware applications that were

recently utilized by Chinese hackers whose purpose was to disrupt military operations in Taiwan.

It is worth noting that such malware can compromise national security and lead to the stealing of

information regarding military hardware processing, storage, or distribution which can be

attacked (Christen, Gordijn & Loi, 2020). The detection rate of various malware programs is low

since the attacks are well camouflaged, and it is nearly impossible to identify the originator. The

issue of inadequate qualified expert staff on cyber security poses a serious threat to national

security. There is therefore need for authorities at national and international levels to work

together to combat the dangers that are posed by electronic attacks (Christen, Gordijn & Loi,

2020). For instance, the Department of Homeland Security and its constituents play a key role in

cementing cybersecurity resilience across the various sectors and nations, advancing

cybersecurity, investigating malicious cyber activity alongside the democratic principles and

values

Significance of the Study

Irrespective of the social and political systems, the existence of a national security

industry and firms can be regarded as universal in nearly all states. Analysis of the effect of

cybersecurity and national security will help in unveiling the avenues used by cybercriminals to

further their agenda hence establishing appropriate policies for mitigating the issue. In doing so,

it is much easier to impose measures meant to improve national security and hence close all the

loopholes that are used by cyber criminals to further their agenda.

A Cybersecurity Incident that Involved National Security

The United States has in the recent past experienced recent cyberattacks that would

compromise national security. According to Goswami (2023), Microsoft had warned that a
 4

Chinese state-sponsored hack was trying to infiltrate the government computer systems. This

was not a surprise as China has been trying to execute such an operation for several years against

the United States. The intelligence agencies such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security

Agency, the National Security Agency, and the cybersecurity agencies of four other countries

had identified this attack and issued a warning which alerted public and corporate enterprises

(Goswami, 2023). The warning stated that a Chinese state-backed hacking group has

successfully managed to exploit a susceptibility in a popular cybersecurity suite. According to

Microsoft, the vulnerability that was exploited by the ‘Volt Typhoon impacts critical cyber

infrastructures in a wide range of industries.

The company argued that the Chinese cyber soldiers had targeted maritime and

communication sectors in Guam, which is home to an important United States military base

(Goswami, 2023). The hacking first focused on spying instead of disruption. Chinese hackers

used malware which was described as a ticking time bomb – was developed in such a way that it

can interrupt the military operations in the United States, and allow China to cut communication,

water, and power to the military bases. It was also found out that the attack could also affect

businesses and homes across the country. The United States is a key ally to Taiwan which has

been in conflict with China (Goswami, 2023). China perpetrated the attack to prevent the United

States from influencing conflicts in Asia or responding to the American community in the case

of an emergency. Another possible disruption that was also projected included causing societal

chaos in the United States. With such an attack, it could also be hard for the United States to

conduct airstrikes (Goswami, 2023). Therefore, the intention was to cripple the American

security system which would bring the country to its knee and have catastrophic defensive

ramifications.
 5

Analysis

There are different ways in which cybercrime influences national security such as the

cases whereby the crime intends to transmit, procure, or disclose secret information about the

state. As such, cybercrime can be described as the means of committing a national security

offense (Li & Liu, 2023). If we consider the broad meaning of the concept of national security,

then it can be concluded that the commission of some criminal offenses against data integrity or

information systems can result in the impairment of national security. An example is the severe

interference with the functionality of the information systems that are utilized in the critical

national infrastructure like in this case whereby Chinese hackers that are state-sponsored

attacked the United States’ critical infrastructure (Gunduz & Das, 2020). The relationship

between the security of the information system and various acts that might compromise national

security is evidenced in the role of classified information. For instance, article 4 of the Romanian

criminal code states that the protection of classified data is meant to prevent surveillance, protect

the security of the information system, and prevent such data from being transmitted illegally (Li

& Liu, 2023). when a country such as China interferes with the classified information of the

United States, tensions are likely to arise more so because of the violations of such policy.

This perspective is also captured in the Explanatory Mechanism law whose one of the

objectives is the protection of classified information against compromise, espionage, or

unauthorized access. In some of the statutes, interception of computer data during transmission

with the intent of communicating confidential information is termed as treason under Article 395

of the criminal code (Kovács, 2018). It can also be interpreted as treason under Article 400 in the

form of procuring proper documentation or data that constitutes state secret information. In

September 2015, a cyber security agreement was established after a meeting between then-
 6

President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping (Gunduz & Das, 2020). This was a result of

years of suspected economic espionage that was propagated via infiltration of the Chinese

computer systems by the United States. However, the recent cyber-attack by the United States is

a violation of this policy and could threaten peace between the two nations (Li & Liu, 2023). In

May 2023, the Chinese hackers breached various US government agencies and stole some of the

60, 000 emails from senior State Department officials, including information on the travel

itineraries of the officials.

Cyberattacks are the greatest threat that America is facing and the case of Chinese attacks

on the United States computer system means that the digital sky is not falling. The previous

administrations have made efforts to enhance the overall security of the national computer

networks, and still, there is a long way to go (Srinivas et al., 2019). It appears that despite these

changing threats and susceptibilities within the cyber domain, the United States appears to be not

adequately prepared. One of the key areas of contention is the extent to which the federal

regulatory powers should play a role in cybersecurity. Most people think reflexively that this

19th-century resolution is the answer (Srinivas et al., 2019). Individuals who have a profound

comprehension of the dynamic and rapid nature of cyber threats view regulation as clumsy and

far too slow and recognize that it can be a barrier to national security by creating adherence to

regulations as well as a false sense of security against enemies that are motivated, agile, and

clever.

The hacking by the Chinese means that the United States has to improve its cybersecurity

efforts. China has a robust desire to jump-start its economic efforts through stealing of business

intellectual property. A breach by hackers sponsored by the Chinese government in the Office of

Personnel Management led to a compromise of data of 20 million federal employees (Gunduz &
 7

Das, 2020). However, up till now, the federal government has not turned a blind eye to the

increasing cyber assaults. It leverages economic sanctions, international law, law enforcement,

information sharing, diplomacy, and public-private engagement models to curtail attacks on the

country’s computer systems (Kovács, 2018). Much of the efforts either encompass diplomatic

attempts to establish ‘cyber rules of the road’ or are one-off responses to various cybercrimes.

There is more that can be done to articulate a wider policy of cyber deterrence, in particular

concerning the hacking the United States businesses.

When it comes to the issue of cybersecurity and the U.S. government, not enough is

known for the reason that much of what the government is doing is classified. For industry

observers, this shows that there exists a serious disconnect between internet security in the

government arena and the private sector (Kovács, 2018). Well, it promising that the United

States government has hinted at some of the remarkable innovations it is doing to prevent

cyberattacks, but on the other hand, the private sector gets no support from the government in

terms of sharing these innovations. The government argues that it has to keep its research a

secret since it is a matter of national security (Goswami, 2023). Regrettably, most individuals

within the private sector presume that classifying cybersecurity for the U.S. government is a

wrong idea. The U.S. government acknowledges its own financial and military assets as critical

in enhancing the safety of the country. The Federal government is the one that controls the stock

market and yet it has not been providing it with the much-needed support as far as cyber

protection is concerned. If by any chance international hackers decide to compromise private

assets, it could cause the same damage as when government assets were attacked (Goswami,

2023). Furthermore, no one knows whether the Chinese hackers will target stock market nets and

indirectly compromise the national interests of the United States.

 8

Conclusion

To sum it up, the advancement of technology is what has led to revolutionization on

computer systems and networks. The government conducts all of their operations using

computers and therefore any compromise in the computer system can affect nearly every

activity. The government is wary of the existing cyber threats some of which have already been

committed in the United States. America has been supporting countries in Asia such as Taiwan

which are nearly going with war with China. Chinese hackers managed to infiltrate the

government systems and this could create a national crisis – this is the focus of this discourse.

Without proper measures to prevent exploitation of the existing vulnerabilities, the national

security remains far from certain. Therefore, this discourse has demonstrated how cyberattacks

influences the national security of a country such as United States

 9

References

Christen, M., Gordijn, B., & Loi, M. (2020). The ethics of cybersecurity (p. 384). Springer

Nature

Dobák, I. (2021). Thoughts on the evolution of national security in cyberspace. Security and

Defence Quarterly, 33(1), 75-85

Goswami. (2023). Chinese state-sponsored hackers infiltrated U.S. naval infrastructure, the

secretary of the Navy says. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/25/us-

navy-impacted-by-china-backed-hackers-secretary-of-the-navy.html

Gunduz, M. Z., & Das, R. (2020). Cyber-security on smart grid: Threats and

potential solutions. Computer Networks, 169, 107094.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2019.107094

Kovács, L. (2018). National cyber security as the cornerstone of national security. Land

Forces Academy Review, 23(2), 113-120

Li, Y., & Liu, Q. (2021). A comprehensive review study of cyber-attacks and cyber

security; Emerging trends and recent developments. Energy Reports, 7, 8176-8186.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2021.08.126

Macnish, K., & Van der Ham, J. (2020). Ethics in cybersecurity research and

practice. Technology in society, 63, 101382

Srinivas, J., Das, A. K., & Kumar, N. (2019). Government regulations in cyber security:

Framework, standards and recommendations. Future Generation Computer Systems,

92, 178-188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2018.09.063