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State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks and the Facade of Democracy
In the digital age, the battleground for global power dynamics has increasingly shifted to cyberspace, where state-sponsored cyber attacks serve not just as tools for espionage but also for political sabotage. This article delves into examples of such operations, focusing on the tensions between the United States and the BRICS countries, and how the rhetoric of promoting “democracy” often masks underlying geopolitical strategies. State-Sponsored MITM Attacks Stuxnet (U.S. and Israel vs. Iran – 2010): This worm, designed to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program, exemplifies how cyber capabilities can be weaponized for physical impact. Although not a traditional Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack, it involved intercepting and altering control system communications (Langner, 2011). Quantum Insert by NSA (U.S.): This technique allowed the NSA to intercept and manipulate internet traffic, potentially for MITM…