The Essence of Cyber Security: The Main Historical Stages of the Development of Cyber Threats

Introduction: Cyberspace – The 5Th Dimension: The New International Battlefield

Along with the development of digital technologies, global security architecture is changing dramatically. As technology advances, so do cyber challenges and cyber risks, making the future increasingly unpredictable. Today, cyberspace is the 5th dimension of warfare, along with land, sea, air, and space. This is an area where normal laws and regulations do not apply. Therefore, due to its unpredictable nature, it represents the greatest threat to humanity (Cederberg, 2018).

There are several variants of the definition of the term “cyberspace”. All definitions define “cyberspace” as a technological and informational complex that includes the global network of Internet and telecommunications, as well as processors. Cyberspace contains both physical and virtual elements. Often the terms “cyberspace” and “Internet” are used interchangeably, however, it should be noted that cyberspace encompasses much more than the Internet (Cavelty, 2022).

Cyber power is a game changer in the political game and introduces a new asymmetry in political power. As studies show, the continuous, rapid development of digital technologies will lead to the transformation of all areas of society in the future, which will completely change the politics of warfare, as opposed to traditional warfare.

One of the main characteristics of cyberspace is hybrid warfare, which is a modern form of warfare and is used by countries to achieve political goals. As the famous 19th-century Prussian military theorist Carl Clausewitz believed, war is the continuation of politics by military means, or simply the expression of politics in other ways. Based on these theories, it can be said that hybrid warfare today is a continuation of politics using hybrid capabilities (Cavelty, 2022). A fundamental question is asked: what is hybrid warfare or hybrid operations? There is no internationally accepted definition of hybrid warfare. Because the conduct of war includes many aspects, hybrid warfare can be considered as conducting combat operations in all possible domains using all possible means.

If we look at the history of warfare, hostilities are described in different terms. For example, non-linear operations, low-intensity conflict, large-scale conflict, political warfare, unconventional warfare, irregular warfare, asymmetric warfare, and cross-border warfare. Along with the development of technology, the art of warfare is constantly improving and developing. According to scientists, today's hybrid operations are nothing more than new mutations or revisions of previously well-known war doctrines (Cavelty, 2022).

American military analyst Frank Hoffman defines the term “hybrid” as follows: “Hybrid threats represent the coordinated use of different models of combat operations, it includes a combination of both military and non-military means, which in turn include irregular tactics, criminal actions, terrorist acts, to Synergy to achieve political goals” (Renz, Smith, 2016). American researcher Nathan Frayer, who started hybrid research after a twenty-year military career, views hybrid war as containing the idea of “victory of the weak over the strong”. Freire's research is mainly concerned with the possibilities of success by small state and non-state actors using conventional and non-conventional methods. It looks at events from the perspective of great powers (Renz, Smith, 2016).