1. WK 5: SPACE AND CYBERSPACE COLLECTION
Tracey Percifield
INTL502 B004 Sum 12
08/01/2012
Space and Cyberspace
The Soviet Union and the United States were in the race to put the first satellites into orbit, make
the first rockets that could enter into outer space and put the first man on the moon. At the end of
the War World II a German Rocket Scientist named Wernher von Braun and his group of
researchers surrendered to the United States and claimed asylum and became citizens (NASA,
2007). A Jet Propulsion Laboratory opened in Pasadena, California where they begin to work.
They created the first Space Craft, “Bumper WAC” which launched on 24 February 1949 and
reached an altitude of two hundred forty-four feet before crashing back to earth. On 4 October
1957, the Soviet’s successfully launched a satellite called Sputnik I into space that orbited earth
and on 3 November 1957 the Soviet’s launch Sputnik II, (a larger scale of Sputnik I) in which
they loaded onto the satellite craft the first passenger of space; Laika, a dog that was successfully
orbit the earth (NASA, 2007).Explorer I was successfully launched on 31 January 1958 and used
batteries which ended its life on 23 May 1958 and floated around until it started to fall back to
earth. On 31 March 1970 re-entered earth and burned up into the atmosphere. The United States
Navy was successful on 17 March 1958 in launching Vanguard I into space and still remains the
oldest man-made object in space history today (NASA, 2007).
Satellite, by all definitions is anything that is in space and orbits, so therefore, anything orbiting
around a stationary planet is considered a satellite. In aerospace and space exploration a satellite
is a mad-made object that is put up into space to orbit any celestial body. Satellites break down
into categories for the information gathering and provide detail imaging and signal relays. The
biggest satellite that everyone uses, civilian and military are the NAVSTAR GPS Satellite. This
satellite is capable of multi-tasking (US Naval Observation, 2012). It sends and relays signals
with data capabilities of either Standard Positioning Service (SPS) or Precise Positioning Service
(PPS), the unique thing about this satellite, is that it was created by the Department of Defense
and is a military satellite; however, civilians use this satellite more than military does. The
difference between SPS and PPS is the codes, the codes are distinguished from military or
government use verses general codes or SPS that everyone else in the world uses (US Naval
Observation, 2012).
Cyberspace, or the new frontier to terrorist and the circuit of crime, the criminal’s choice of
weapon. Every day millions of individuals all over the world send and receive all different types
of information. In this information individuals do not realize what they are sending contains in
some forms their identity, their personal information and if they understood how sensitive of an
area, maybe they wouldn’t play the internet games. Games can be a hosting site for sucking up
your information, it is a place that is manipulative if you know the language and
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2. WK 5: SPACE AND CYBERSPACE COLLECTION
knowprogrammable software and how it all relates to cyberspace or the internet than you can
manipulate other software and write programmable viruses or worms. Viruses, Worms and
Trojan Horses are all different and many people do not understand the difference, let alone what
they actually do and are capable of. Viruses are spread through executable files or programs and
attach themselves until you give the human action of opening the attached virus and running it,
most do this and have no idea they have just infected their computer in some way and have
passed it onto other computers waiting and sitting there for you to open the email, or click on a
link (Symantec, 2009). A Worm is much like a virus, except with one exception; it doesn’t need
you to transport it. A Worm can transport itself through programs and replicates itself, for
instance, it can attach and send out emails through your whole and complete email address book
and once it does this it spreads itself and replicates itself more through an entire network till it
reaches servers causing many problems (Symantec, 2009). Finally, Trojan Horsesdo not
reproduce and spread, however, they mimic a program and as the old mythical Trojan Horse,
they make you believe they are friendly and authentic, however, they are not. Instead, once open
they can destroy some of your information or put icons or send out your personal information
back to a host or for criminals to gain access to it. There is a blended blend of Viruses and
Worms which are high tech and create a hole in defense systems and many other systems
(Symantec, 2009).
Understanding the boundaries of the wide world global technology of Cyberspace, understanding
the three most horrible viruses will give you an understanding of Cyber Warfare and the next
generation of Cyber Weaponry.
The International Telecommunication Union is part of the United Nations and located in Geneva,
Switzerland and is responsible for all communication and information technologies and serves as
a buffer between member state countries which consists of one hundred ninety three country
member states. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) shares ideas in knowledge
and technology in fields of; aeronautical and maritime navigation, radio astronomy, satellite-
based meteorology,broadband Internet, latest-generation wireless technologies, convergence in
fixed-mobile phone, internet access, data, voice, TV broadcasting, next-generation networks and
probably the most important is, terrorism that results from Cyberspace in regards to viruses,
worms, and breaches in security. ITU also helps member states understand the process of Cyber
Terrorism, Cyber Espionage and Cyber Crime in the Virtual World of Cyberspace. The diagram
below shows the course of Cyber Terrorism and how it works and how it is transmitted:
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3. WK 5: SPACE AND CYBERSPACE COLLECTION
(Gercke, 2011). Understanding how Cyber Terrorism and Cyber Crime occurs helps to
understand the viruses and worms that look for loop holes within programs or weaknesses and
infiltrate through firewalls and other helper programs and/or software and attaches itself to the
main program. When these viruses and/or worms attach itself it can do several damaging things.
If you look by incident reporting and we take the three viruses; Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame and we
examine by incidents and the effects they had on breaches with securities and infiltrating
programmable systems we can determine the impact they have had and the issues and problems
that they have caused (Gercke, 2011).Stuxnet was discovered in June of 2010 and attacks the
Microsoft Windows program and targeted Siemens Industrial software programs. It was one of
the first Malware that specifically spies and subverts industrial systems and also, included a
programmable logic controller or what is known as a “rootkit”, meaning that this sophisticated
worm mimics the program and seeks out to copy information going virtually undetected from
administrators. The next worm to be discovered was Duqu discovered on 1 September 2011 and
was believed to be written or designed by the same author/or authors that created Stuxnet and is
closely related to its function, however, the difference lies in, when it spies and steals the
information it is used in future attacks not present functions and Duqu has unknown capabilities
and unknown use and is still being investigated (Symantec, 2011). The next incident occurs with
the Flame Virus, discovered on May 2012, it is the most highly sophisticated and stealth mode
invader which attacked Iran and other Middle East countries defense programs. This is the
biggest breach in all security at this given time, unlike the two worms, Stuxnet and Duqu, this
virus was almost not discovered and is referred to as Cyber Weapon and is classified as
terrorism. It has been thought to been in existence and out in the field working for at least two
years if not more. This virus has the capability and steals information of data files, conversations,
key code passes, visual data and plans, stored files, addresses, contact information and much
more. The capabilities that “Flame” demonstrates pose threats now and as they do of future
threats. Since, it is not known how much information it has stolen and where and to whom it has
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4. WK 5: SPACE AND CYBERSPACE COLLECTION
gone to, leaves extreme concerns of how this information will be used and what it will be used
for. The question is asked, should you be concerned and afraid of this virus? The answer is yes,
if it infiltrates more government bases then governments will lose classified information, if it
infiltrates corporations they will risk losing intellectual property and finally, in the private sector,
individuals information will be stolen and used and play a part in the Cyber-Espionage (ITU,
2012). As technology advances we rely on electronic applications and programs to run our needs
of transferring information by internet or the virtual word through Cyberspace, we rely on it to
run interlinking systems that support our global government data bases, interlinks that support
servers and information through the International Telecommunication Union in a wide and
various technologies, and we rely on it to support our countries energy, water, and our daily
lives. We rely on this capability to sustain life that provides our basic and advanced function
needs. The question is then asked, what happens when our intelligence information has been
compromised, breached and our National Defense is weakened and how do we fight back and
counteract this terrorism and espionage? The answer is a complex one involving laws to redefine
computer and information terrorism and espionage via each country and then redefining law or
treaties to establish upholding for punishment globally. As of now, not all countries recognize or
see it as terrorism and/or espionage for Cyber Crime and do not support it, however, some of
these countries systems and defense data bases have been the ones that have been affected by the
three viruses and it’s only at that time do they have a concern and then blame goes out. This is
why ITU a subdivision of the UN, has raised the concern that measures must now be taken
andput into place to counteract this issue so that it is recognized by everyone to ensure
Intelligence Information will be safe. In addition to this countries and governments must use
programs that ensure the safety of information and allows administrators the right to monitor
within the program itself. More programs and/or software should have built in security instead of
relying on security programs and/or software to just do the job of protecting the information. All
organizations that hold treaties with each other that form any kind of reliance must have an
understanding of itself and other country states to defeat this war of Cyberspace. If this doesn’t
happen then the future holds many problems and will create more issues which will result in the
next World War but on a new frontier in the virtual world, Cyberspace and the War on
Intelligence Information (Kamal, 2005).
Satellites and Cyberspace play a huge role in our future, as technology advances, so do we.
Whatever someone makes someone out there is finding a way to counterattack it. It is our jobs,
our mission to understand from many fields and to grow upon the technology that develops. It is
important that we consider options such as the DI2E and other possibilities, our future will
depend on this.
Gercke, M., . International Telecommunication Union. United Nations. UNDERSTANDING
CYBERCRIME:A GUIDE FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES. Geneva, Switzerland: United
Nations, 2011. Web. <http://www.itu.int/ITU-
D/cyb/cybersecurity/docs/ITU_Guide_A5_14092011_rev.pdf>.
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5. WK 5: SPACE AND CYBERSPACE COLLECTION
Kamal, Ahmad. The Law of Cyber-Space an Invotation to the Table of Negotiations. 1. 1.
Geneva 10, Switerland: United Nations Institute for Training and Research, 2005. 1-269.
<http://www.un.int/kamal/thelawofcyberspace/The Law of Cyber-Space.pdf>.
NASA, . "The Early Satellites." Space Science and Technology. NASA US Government, 22
November 2007. Web. 2 Aug 2012. <http://www.nasa.gov/missions/science/f-satellites.html>.
Symantec, . "What is the difference between viruses, worms, and Trojans?." . Symantec
Corporation, 10 January 2009. Web. 2 Aug 2012.
<http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH98539>.
US Naval Observation, . "USNO NAVSTAR Global Positiong System." NAVSTAR GPS
Operations. US Navy; Department of Defense, 2012. Web. 2 Aug 2012.
<http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/gpsinfo.html>.
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