Human rights Activist & Peace Advocate Dr Ahmed Haque see the next war beginning with a keyboard attack on nations critical infrastructure, threatening to cut off the internet, electricity, water, transportation, and financial systems. It would mean almost everything, from phones to gas pumps to cash machines to traffic lights suddenly stops working.
He said , Two world wars were fought with tanks, aircraft, ships and bombs. The next world war, to which we are heading, will witness combat that has the potential to obliterate humanity on a vast scale, transcending boundaries.
Software will replace sonar, algorithm will replace radar, viruses will replace vehicles, binary codes will replace bullets and bombs and artificial intelligence will replace combat soldiers.
According to Dr Ahmed Haque, The geopolitical implications of this kind of combat will propel the balance of power into a new dimension. The victor will rule the world and the losers will be vanquished into political slavery. This type of attack can be brutal, anonymous and devastating.
Cyberwar has the potential to render economic waste to any nation. It can force highly advanced nations to jump at every digital shadow while attackers can co-opt the resources of the defending nation to force-multiply their attacks.
The Activist said , For the first time in human history, laws and agreements to codify and restrain methods of war will become obsolete as the attacker cannot be seen or identified.
Unlike a nuclear weapon, the death toll from most cyberattacks would be slower. People would die from lack of power for heat, as well as crashes resulting from corrupted traffic lights and highway systems.
Cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, and economic warfare have become tools that can destabilize a whole nation without a single shot being fired.
he added, “From drones and autonomous vehicles to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum computing, the technologies shaping modern warfare are evolving at a breathtaking pace.
Cyberwarfare is a serious weapon of mass destruction that falls outside the ambit of every arms control treaty. An attack could happen by mistake or electronic malfunction.