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Gerald Aguilar
Writing 150: Section 64760
Abigail Mitchell
Date: 12-5-14
Assignment 4

The Worlds Newest Frontier

Ive seen a three year old who didnt know how to speak, but fully knew how to use and
iPad (Thebe Neruda Kgositsile). Observations such as these are the by-product of the world in
which younger generations grew up the age of technology. However, classifying the current
state of the society as the age of technology can be misleading. It is not a new phenomenon
which is only catching on now; rather society has now reached a point where technology is so
advanced it has become seamlessly integrated into our lives. Millennials up can attest to
progression of this trend. Personally I reference my landline telephone which sits in the corner of
my house collecting dust while my parents recall the advent of the internet and the rise of
cellular phones. Currently society has reached a point where it is impossible to function without
electronics; they have become a part of us. So much of our lives are vested in them: credit cards,
photos, addresses and so forth. However as Kgositsile pointed out, for the new generations this
synchronized relation to technology is simply part of their life. Yet no matter how grand the
innovation, all of this information serves no purpose if it does not have a platform in which to be
used. For us that platform is cyberspace: the internet. Cyberspace, though it provides
convenience and seamless integration into daily life, also poses a huge economic threat. Society
has blindly trusted this network with everything yet are blind or rather negligent to the fact that it
only takes a handful of individuals to compromise the entire system. Cyberspace is the worlds

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newest frontier and if left without the regulation, via a governing body, it will spiral out of
control causing unforeseen amounts of economic damage.
Before delving into the various ways the world we know can come crashing down via a
few commands from a remote desktop, I feel it is necessary to provide a brief rundown of how
the internet works to further understanding effectively getting rid of any potential false
misconceptions going forward. Any and all information which travels from one point to another
is broken down into a packet. These packets are small pieces of formatted data for the receiving
computer to read; however travel is not linear but far more complex. The data is sent through an
arrays of routers until it is directed to its final destination (Bagnall). By illustrating the basic
structure of the internet, it is clear that is not a direct system of distributing information and is
instead a web or network. Many people, myself included, think of the internet as a thing or being
which is autonomous and occupies its own space. We hear and discuss things such as Apples
iCloud or Google Drive and believe them to be their own entities when they are infact just a
network of interconnected computers servers and routers. The first step to the prevention of mass
economic devastation via cyberspace is to have the users who partake in it understand its basic
workings.
The internet is a choice. Unlike life where, one can not decide his or her gender, parents,
class and so forth, we have the choice to integrate the internet and devices such as cell phones
into our lives, a feature which is quite different and unique. By allowing these devices and the
internet to become part of our lives we take an inherent risk. Personal electronics are some of the
most widespread and vulnerable targets for an attack. As Glenn Wilkinson, a computer security
expert puts it smart phones are effectively the ultimate spy tool (Motherboard). He continues
by saying before the invention of the smartphone in order to actually spy on an individual a

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physical bug within the phone would have to be planted; however now, with the rise and
affordability of the smart phone, people are voluntarily giving away all of their information. It is
not surprising that owners of smart phones keep credit card information, emails, contacts and
photos all one device. It is practical. What is surprising is the notion that is absolutely safe There
is this notion that all of that information is not going anywhere - after all it belongs to the user,
right? This question presents a grey area. Yes the content on the phone when using data is the
users but what about when he or she strolls into starbucks and use their wifi - does it belong to
the individual then? It is a problematic situation that does not have a definitive answer. However,
what is clear is the risk people take when connecting to public networks as well as simply
owning a device, such as a phone, which is so heavily integrated to ones personal life . To
illustrate the inherent risks of owning highly sophisticated technology as well as the potential for
economic damage two different cases will be present, the first of which, is the Snoopy Hack.
The Snoopy hack is a simple hack which illustrates how easy it is to very stealthily
intercept an array of different data from hundreds of phones in less than an hour. All one needs
for the Snoopy Hack is a small personal drone, a data card, and an instrument to relay the data.
Recall the process when connecting to a friends or Starbucks wifi for the very first time - you
acknowledge the network, perhaps type in a password and connect. That is it. From that point on,
since most phones are set to connect to wifi automatically, in order to conserve data and money
from the cell phone providers, anytime the phone sees that network X or network Y are
available it will connect. Following this protocol, all the hack then has to do is simply recreate
the networks name and any phones which had it previously saved will automatically connect. At
that point any and all information will go through the server, all of which the hacker has access
to. The Snoopy Hack, to test its capabilities, was used in a public park. In the short amount of

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time the unmanned aerial vehicle was flying around the park, two hundred and ninety devices
connected (Mother Board). To further show the softwares capabilities and to prove the more
you put out there the more someone can use against you (PR Newswire). The hacker selected a
few phones from the bunch and from them he was able to get email logins, home addresses as
well as photos from GPS triangulation and credit cards. Any and all of the information gathered
could potentially be used in such a manner as to completely ruin the individuals lives. What all
of the potential consequences had in common was that they were all monetary based. The credit
and debit cards could be maxed, logins and addresses sold off and so forth. The potential for the
damage illustrated on an individual is not only very real but extremely frightening. What is
perhaps even more alarming is the fact that the Snoopy software is not new technology and has
in fact been operational since 2004. That means for years hackers could be actively putting to use
and causing damage to countless individuals. Yet to good fortune, this particular demonstration
of the Snoopy software was intended to raise awareness at the Black Hat Asia cybersecurity
conference in hope that the problem will finally be addressed (PR Newswire). Though the
damage that can be caused by insecure networks and the Snoopy Hack can be very costly, the
damage that is caused is on a target to target and not nearly as costly as the damage created by a
superbug such as the Stuxnet! virus which cost the Iranian government millions in damages.
Superbugs, when broken down and fully understood, sound like something straight off
the pages of a science fiction novel or out of a James Bond movie. The Stuxnet virus is
particularly astonishing and genius feat of engineering. After introducing it to the world, the
Stuxnet! virus at one point or another during its span of operation infected every single
Windows based computer to exist; yet most people have never heard of or experienced the
adverse effects of the virus. This is not a coincidence. Rather this fact is a testament to the bugs

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design; a design which represents a new generation of fire-and-forget malware that can be
aimed in cyberspace against selected targets (Farwell and Rohozinski). Stuxnet!, created by an
elite team of anonymous hackers, was used in order to combat the Iranian nuclear efforts. Iran
claimed their nuclear plant at Natanz was for energy; however there was speculation that the
plant was also being used to help the country's nuclear arms races (Farwell and Rohozinski).
Once the power plant was infiltrated the worms changed the operation speed of the centrifuges
for several months and as a result caused failure (Farwell and Rohozinski). Due to the damage
the government ended up replacing all of the plant's centrifuges. The cost the Iranian government
faced was in the millions not to mention the lost time and power during the replacement of all of
the plants equipment. The damage caused by the Stuxnet! worm is exponentially larger than that
of the Snoopy Hack and offers a view into a very bleak and very possible future a future where
the attacks start to transition to a more global platform affecting more people and have extreme
economic damage.
The current lack of a regulatory body for the internet and the failure to respond to hacks
and malware makes Cyberspace the most prominent economic issue of the twenty-first century.
The entire world relies on Cyberspace; governments use it for security purposes and intelligence,
Wall Street to keep stock records, businesses to manage employees, insurance companies to keep
track of customers, NASA to manage spacecraft and so forth. Imagine if a Stuxnet! like virus
was created to impact one if not all of the different areas listed above - it would result in total
chaos. The amount of money that would be lost as a result of such an attack in addition in
attempting to repair all that was damaged is simply unfathomable. Prevention of such a future is
a very complex and intricate process but it all starts with whether or not it can be done. The
answer is yes but there are many different ways to manage Cyberspace. Some suggest the

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censorship of certain types of speech while other suggest ecommerce and finally security. The
conflict regarding the direction which regulation should take is due to it being a new kind of
medium that is significantly different from earlier media (Tavani). It is not a physical
tangible entity; one can visit space, land or water but one can not visit Cyberspace. Another
challenge comes from the web being multifaceted. It is a place for commerce, voicing of
opinions and as explored earlier,distribution of various software or malware; thus at least two
different senses of regulation have been used in discussions involving cyberspace (Tavani). At
the moment only niche policing entities exist for the internet such as the United States
Department of Justice and government censorship in countries such as North Korea. Like war
their needs to be universal guidelines and bodies; without them there is too much leeway. By not
setting standards and protective measures Cyberterrorism, which already exists, may escalate to a
new level where millions of people are affected and economic infrastructure brought to the
ground. Only through investing assets in research, global communication and advancement and
testing of internet security can the economic issues, which the new age of Cyberspace has
presented, can the world have hope of reaching a point of stability with todays level of
technological integration
In retrospect, it is easy to see it is not the three year old childs fault it grew up in an age
where technology is so readily available; however something can be said about the parents which
allowed their child to become proficient at using an iPad before speech. A parallel can be made
to the current state the world is as it relates to technology. No one is to blame for the
advancement of technology, nor is it a bad thing; progression is part of human nature. However
allowing technology advance faster than it can be manage or simply failing to manage it is
undoubtedly irresponsible. Technology is no longer an option or a possibility it is here to stay.

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Millions of people have already accepted it as part of their lives. Failing to protect and provide
security measures for technology is simply negligent. On countless occasions it has been brought
to public attention that technology is not only fallible but can be manipulated in such a way that
it can cause severe economic damage; not only on a individual basis but also on a global or
national stage. Cyberspace is the worlds most forefront economic challenge; without the proper
care and surveillance it undoubtedly break down in our lifetime.

Works Cited
"All The Ways To Hack Your Phone: Phreaked Out (Episode 3)." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.
05 Dec. 2014.
Herman T. Tavani, (2007) "Regulating cyberspace: concepts and controversies", Library HiTech,
Vol. 25 Iss: 1, pp.37 - 46
James P. Farwell & Rafal Rohozinski, (2011) "Stuxnet and the Future of Cyber War", Library
HiTech, Vol. 53 Iss: 1, pp.23 - 40

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"M.C. Earl Sweatshirt of Odd Future on Inspiration and Identity." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.
05 Dec. 2014.
"New Drones Hack Smartphones from the Sky." PR Newswire Mar 27 2014 ProQuest. 5 Dec.
2014 .
Peter Bagnall, (1998) The Internet: Where It Came from, How It Works
Phys. Educ. 33 143