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Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies Núm. 9 / 2017
b) Dependent proxies. These lack autonomy with respect to the State which creates
and utilizes them. This is the case, for example, of the relationship established
between the regime of Bashar al-Assad and the so-called Syrian Electronic Army
(SEA), to which there has been attributed a large number of cyber-sabotage
actions towards international communications media and opposition groups
which demonstrate hostility to the Syrian dictator.
On occasions, these proxies are not only ad hoc creations, but the State also
shows little interest in demonstrating possession of an entity of its own which
goes beyond the operation for which it was created. Such is the case with the
self-styled “Cutting Sword of Justice”, which defined itself as “a group of anti-oppression
hackers” claiming responsibility in the summer of 2012 for the cyber
attack on the computer network of the Saudi petroleum company Aramco,
damaging over 30,000 of the company’s computers. This supposed group lacks
any previous record or public profile. Its only manifesto was limited to a brief
written communiqué on the website of the Pastebin anonymous publications,
where it justified its actions as a response to the “crimes and atrocities taking
place in a number of countries throughout the world, especially in neighboring
countries such as Syria, Bahrein, Yemen, Lebanon, Egypt…”, which were
sponsored, according to the communiqué, using the oil resources of the Moslems30.
Speculations about the origin of the attack were soon directed towards Iran31,
something which that country probably desired, considering its indifference to
the continuity in time of “Cutting Sword”. Iran had already undergone, at the
hands of the United States and Israel, the greatest cyber attack known up to
that moment (Stuxnet), and wished to make a public display of its new cyber
warfare capacities by directing an action against its principal regional rival and
ally of its enemy, the United States. Through a one-time action, attributed to
an apparently independent proxy, and oriented towards a company (and not a
political institution or military facility), the Persian country indirectly reinforced
its capacity for cyber dissuasion, so avoiding the risk of a military response by the
Saudi kingdom.
Within this same category are included as well those proxies which demonstrate
a more obvious organic link to their sponsors. This is the case of the so-called
Iranian Cyber Army, a creation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC in
its English abbreviation)32 which is used against objectives for which there is
no major need to disseminate responsibility, either because an overt and active
hostility exists though other routes (as is the case with Israel), or because there is
30 MCKIE, Gladys, “Cutting Sword of Justice”, Cyber Threat Research (no date). https://
cyberthreatresearch.wordpress.com/hackivist-groups/cutting-sword-of-justice/.
31 BRONK, Christopher and TIKK-RINGAS, Eneken, “The Cyber Attack on Saudi Aramco”,
Survival, vol. 55, nº 2 (April 2013), pp. 81-96.
32 ADELKAH, Nima, “Iran and Its Cyber Terrorism Strategies”, Terrorism Monitor, vol. 14, nº 10 (May 16, 2016).
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?txttnewsttnews=45435&txttnewsbackpjd=7&cHash=fa0da141d
630521600aa6a7bffa11625.
http://revista.ieee.es/index.php/ieee
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- The Islamic State and Jabhat Al-Nusra; new actors in Lebanon?
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- Central Asians fighting in Syria: The danger of Islamic State retournees to Central Asia
- Carlos García-Guiu López
- Liderazgo ético y gestión responsable como vectores de mejora en las Organizaciones de Seguridad, Emergencia y Defensa
- Ethical leadership and responsible management as levers for improvement in security, emergency and defence organisations
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- En busca de una Estrategia de Seguridad Nacional
- Ángel Gómez de Ágreda
- El quinto elemento
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- p 111-131.pdf
- The Fifth Element
- Book review
- En busca de una Estrategia de Seguridad Nacional
- Ángel Gómez de Ágreda
- Book review
- Ethical leadership and responsible management as levers for improvement in security, emergency and defence organisations
- Javier Jordán Enamorado
- Central Asians fighting in Syria: the danger of Islamic State retournees to Central Asia
- Carlos García-Guiu López
- The Islamic state and Jabhat Al-Nusra; new actors in Lebanon?
- Antonio Alonso Marcos
- The cartoon, the new weapon of the first world war
- Javier Lion Bustillo
- Defining a model for analysis of civil-military relations patterns
- Manuel García Ruiz
- Proxy wars in cyberspace
- Salvador Sánchez Tapia
- Presentation of Issue nº 9 of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies (IEEE) Magazine
- Manuel R. Torres Soriano
- Miguel Ángel Ballesteros Martín
- Consejo de redacción
- Miguel Ángel Ballesteros Martín
- Presentación de la revista
- Manuel R. Torres Soriano
- Guerras por delegación en el ciberespacio
- Proxy wars in cyberspace
- Salvador SánchezTapia
- Definición de un procedimiento de análisis de modelos de relaciones cívico-militares
- Defining a model for analysis of civil-military relations patterns
- Manuel García Ruiz
- La viñeta, la nueva arma durante la I Guerra Mundial
- The cartoon, the new weapon of the First World War
- Javier Lion Bustillo
- El Estado Islámico y Jabhat al-Nusra, ¿nuevos actores en el Líbano?
- The Islamic State and Jabhat Al-Nusra; new actors in Lebanon?
- Antonio Alonso Marcos
- Centroasiáticos luchando en Siria: El peligro de los retornados del Estado Islámico para Asia Central
- Central Asians fighting in Syria: The danger of Islamic State retournees to Central Asia
- Carlos García-Guiu López
- Liderazgo ético y gestión responsable como vectores de mejora en las Organizaciones de Seguridad, Emergencia y Defensa
- Ethical leadership and responsible management as levers for improvement in security, emergency and defence organisations
- Javier Jordán Enamorado
- En busca de una Estrategia de Seguridad Nacional
- Ángel Gómez de Ágreda
- El quinto elemento
- Normas para los autores de artículos
REVISTA IEEE 9
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