People usually hack into someone else’s computer or server to steal data of some kind. It could be their credit card information, social security number, passwords, or usernames. If it’s sensitive data, hackers want it — the more sensitive and potentially classified, the better.
Cyber warfare through data theft occurs just appreciate any other kind of data theft hack. Someone sneaks their way onto a protected device, usually by tricking the victim into downloading a malicious program or phishing for their login credentials, and then the hacker goes to town once the infection sets in. Since they steal data, the culprit generally downloads the files for their own use.
Many public, government, and government-backed entities store digital warehouses worth of data, so they are prime targets for hackers, including foreign governments gunning for those secrets. North Korea, for instance, has been linked to espionage attempts across the globe, including South Korea’s chemical industry and Spain’s aerospace sector. More recently, Russian hackers allegedly tried to sneak into Ukrainian law enforcement networks to procure files that documented Russia’s purported war crimes during the invasion.
However, not all acts of cyber warfare target government or tech entities. In 2018, an Iran-linked hacker group stole login credentials connected to 76 universities, and the Chinese-backed Double Dragon has been known to target everything from healthcare providers to video game developers. Knowledge is, after all, is power, and some countries are willing to do anything to gain as much power as possible.
