Hackers game out infowar against China with the US Navy

Picture this: It's 2030 and China's furious with Taiwan after the island applies to the UN to be recognized as an independent state. After deciding on a full military invasion, China attempts to first cripple its rebellious neighbor's critical infrastructure.

That's the scenario set up as a wargame exercise by the US Naval War College, which invited technology specialists, infrastructure experts, and hardcore hackers to study the problem. Last August, at the Black Hat and DEF CON security conferences in Las Vegas, players were separated into teams and during a three-hour session tried to stress-test Taiwanese infrastructure and look for weaknesses.

The two Naval academics running the exercise detailed the results to attendees at the ShmooCon infosec conference in Washington DC earlier this month, and discussed them with The Register.

In the three-hour wargames, the participants considered two scenarios. The first proposed a purely online attack against power, data, and critical infrastructure. The second narrative considered what could happen if China carried out military attacks and sabotage as well. The wargames are part of the Navy's three-year Taiwan Resilience Project that's designed to find the best ways to protect Taiwan's critical infrastructure.

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