An interesting thing about cyber warfare is that it can make a war thousands of miles away feel a lot closer to home.

Aside from the shocking news of chemical warfare in Syria, U.S. citizens have been experiencing a high level of cyber warfare from the Syrian Electronic Army. This group of politically motivated hackers has been flexing their muscles all month with their computing capabilities.

Media companies have reported the SEA as a group of anonymous computer hackers who support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Although a direct connection has not been officially linked between Assad and SEA, it is highly suggested. According to Infosecurity magazine, SEA’s official website is registered by the Syrian Computer Society, which is a state-affiliated organization that was headed by Assad in the 1990s.

Most people have never experienced the violence and bloodshed of war firsthand. But due to our increasing dependence on social media and online news reporting, we have experienced the barrage of cyber attacks the SEA has committed in the past month.

The cyber attacks committed by the SEA have been frequent and numerous. NPR, The Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, Human Rights Watch and BBC Weather were the first victims.

Then about a week ago, when Obama’s course of action in Syria was still undetermined, the SEA attacked The New York Times’ website and Twitter domains, making it difficult for people to access these sites.

Most recently, on Sept. 2, the SEA hacked the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting site. The group posted a message directly from the Syrian army calling President Obama a traitor.

To gain access to most of these websites, the SEA used a phishing email technique targeted at the registrar Melbourne IT, an Australian company that sells website addresses such as NYTimes.com.

A phishing email is an email soliciting useful information. The only catch is that it appears to be from a trusted source. As a result, the victim will usually give the information willingly. The technique operates similarly to a double agent.

Information technology specialists have touted the cyber attacks as fairly basic. However, it is hard to take much comfort from these statements seeing as they have continued all month. The only relief is that the attacks on these media sites have been harmless, some even quite humorous.

For instance, when SEA hacked the BBC’s Twitter account, itf declared, “Forecast for Tel Aviv on Saturday – 5000 degrees Kelvin with northern fog and eastern high pressure front.”

In reality, attacks like these not only limit access to information, but also are meant to create chaos. While the attacks have done little damage in the United States, in Syria, the SEA and other hacking groups have used comparable methods to create propaganda and track down anti-regime rebels.

The real difference in cyber warfare is that the government cannot hide ordinary civilians from enemies when they are online. The government has the ability to prevent information on military attacks from reaching the media. However, it cannot block ordinary people from experiencing cyber attacks.

In today’s digital age, media sites are too well-integrated to mobile devices and social media. Once something is online, it reaches multiple platforms of communication instantly.

Cyber warfare will continue to increase exponentially with our online use, which increases every day. As a result, Americans will be closer to war because they will witness a lot of these cyber attacks at the same time as the government.

Ultimately, with the increase in cyber warfare, Americans will need to be more careful online. Fact checking and email assurance are now more fundamental than ever before. After all, as the Syrian cyber attacks have demonstrated, the National Security Agency is no longer the only group attempting to access our information.

Bram Berkowitz is a senior advertising and entrepreneurship major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at [email protected].

Published on September 5, 2013 at 1:25 am