Army Chief warns of cyber war
Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya yesterday warned that though there is no room to wage war to physically devastate the nation, there is yet ample room to launch a cyber war through cyberspace against Sri Lanka that could cause the same destruction.
He made this observation delivering the keynote speech on Strategic Dimensions of Cyber Warfare at the Cyber Warfare Workshop at the Galadari Hotel. The Army Commander said that the number of enemies looking forward to wage war against Sri Lanka through cyberspace is much more than the LTTE. He added that we might never be able to know them all and what their targets are. He said that we knew LTTE as our enemy since they have been our enemy for almost 30 years.
Army Commander Jayasuriya explaining of danger of a possible cyber attack stated that the CIA once showed a piece of code in the computer which can even make an explosion even in a gas pipeline in a faraway land without a missile or a bomb.
Lieutenant General Jayasuriya said that not only Armed Forces or state leaders, but all Sri Lankans will be the targets if Sri Lanka is attacked through cyberspace.
He added that it is not compulsory to attack the Government and its Armed Forces to damage or destroy a nation.
The Army Chief said that an irreparable damage could be caused to a nation if the servers that includes the financial information of institutions such as banks which are connected to cyberspace were attacked.
“The main responsibility of countering the civil war is the responsibility of the Armed Forces,” the Army Commander said. “However countering a possible cyber war which would definitely become a true threat to this country very soon is not the responsibility of Armed Forces alone.
It is the responsibility of yours as well.” Army Commander Jayasuriya said that in combating cyber attacks, all of us, service providers, banking sector, manufacturing sector, government sector together with the Armed Forces must become soldiers and warriors before being victims.
Courtesy: Daily News
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Though the majority of Sri-Lankans might not understand…It is a very well though-out process of explaining how critical or devastative it could be if Sri_Lanka is not prepared to handle it once attacked. I wonder how prepared are we as a Nation to counter these threats as it is clearly said we might not know or identify these enimies of our beloved Nation.
The future demands, preparatins of these cyber wars…as most of the highly developed countries almost encounter on frequent basis.
Cyber war, potential threats & Security will be the Focas area in the years to come….
yes genaral you are right,but what have you done to prevent such a cyber war attacks. acording to my knowledge having finished the war with Ltte, the srilanken governmant does not doing enough properganda with foriegn countries,because lot of foriegn countries they do not konw our present governmant position and still the ltte disapora is mobilaizing their own people.So therefore please be attention.
The cat is out of the bag. Mr Pillayan, the sleeper has evidence of terrorist tamil diaspora, which funded the cruel war on Sinhala Buddhist Citizens for over three decades, now “mobilising” their “own” people for a possible cyber war.
Nicholas and Rani, do you believe me now?
Pillayan has rightly commented that many of our foreign missions are doing little to counter the persistent LTTE disinformation campaign through their media around the world. Each SL Mission need to have a special operations centres to counter such disinformation of the diaspora LTTE.
Cyberwarfare has been around for sometime and respective countries in the West have special operations centres to counter cyber attacks on their security computer networks and strategic bases. SL has also become aware of it due to cyber attacks by LTTE, which is still on-going even after the war. Our Defence Forces too have their operations centres to counter such attacks. Countries like USA, Britain, Norway, Israel, Russia, India, Iran, China, Japan, Korea not only have defence measures against cyber attacks but also carry out cyber attacks in retaliation against suspected enemies. This is the silent war that is going on in cyber space currently, which is little known to the outside world.
Nicholas, I do not agree. SL has efficien representation in the international arena. Palitha K and Shavedra S at the UN, Jaliya W in Washington, Dayan J in Paris, Ravinatha A in the EU and a host of other leading career diplomats in key positions including defence attache’s in many overseas posts.
I consider these officers to be providing invaluable service in representing our motherland.
Cyberwar is indeed a threat and SL has embarked on Defence Systems; this is what the Army Commander was communicating. It is a bold and necessary initiative.
Mr Pillayan has blogged that tamil terrorist diaspora which supported the Sun God and his cruelty on Sinhala Buddhist Citizens for over three decades are now preparing to embark on cyber war. I believe Mr Pillayan stated so on credible evidence which he has in his possession because I read every word he writes and listen to his messages, with utmost care and patience.
As I have been saying repeatedly in previous instances, Mr Pillayan and his ilk will never lay their swords down and accept their status as citizens of a united Sinhala Buddhist Republic of Sri Lanka.
SL should accept this fact and recognise tamil nationalism and look for ways to seek a solution to the national aspirations of the tamils. At this point in time the best option that will be acceptable to all stakeholders will be to expatriate all tamils in Sri Lanka to their original lands, Tamil Nadu. This solution will meet with the nationalistic aspirations of the tamils and ensure the security of the Sinhala Buddhist Nation and its citizens.
Guru
I agree that the people you mentioned do valuable service to counter diaspora LTTE disinformation. But some others do very little, eg. the female Ambassador in Switzerland and the one in Norway.
LTTE started cyberwar a few years ago, even before the War of Liberation. They have now increased the tempo of this, but news do filter through. I do not have inside knowledge of this. But our Defence Services should be able to gather intelligence from their own spy networks and by sharing intelligence with SL-friendly nations.