As stated earlier in the preceding Entry, all Malware are constituted as Cyberweaponry in the world order of Scenario 1999. It is in the interests of the Council State, Totality, and Self to be prepared to defend the National Intranet in the event of a future conflict with another nation. As the Digital Realm continues to become increasingly influential in the State of Total Mobilization, all considerations of National Cyberdefense should be implemented as with all other considerations for National Defense offline. Here, we encounter one of the notable roles of the Military-Industrial Complex, the only institution under the Work-Standard that could facilitate the contributions of Military Arbeit and Military Geld to the Life-Energy Reserve.    

Military Arbeit and Military Geld present their own daunting sets of rewards and challenges under the Work-Standard. On the one hand, the Military-Industrial Complex will be able to sustain itself and become discouraged from advocating for needless conflicts that could otherwise be avoided through diplomacy. On the other hand, the Military-Industrial Complex is fully aware of a hidden weakness associated with the Work-Standard whose implications can only become apparent in wartime or during cyberattacks.

What is that weakness? The Arbeit and Geld existing in the Life-Energy Reserve is finite. The amount of Arbeit and Geld that can be stored inside the Life-Energy Reserve is dependent on the overall economic and financial firepower of the entire nation. Without that economic and financial firepower, the nation cannot function nor can it be in the position to sustain any conceivable war effort. Thus, it becomes a matter of national survival for the Council State to ensure that the Totality and the Self will be able to continue contributing Arbeit and Geld to the Life-Energy Reserve despite efforts by enemy forces to eliminate them.

How and in what ways are the Arbeit and Geld of the Life-Energy Reserve finite? Suppose that the Life-Energy Reserve received a contribution of 1,000,000 GDM in Arbeit and Geld on a given workweek. The Total Productive Potential (TPP) is now 1,000,000 GDM. Out of that 1,000,000 GDM figure, the Council State allocated three-quarters or 750,000 GDM toward its own State Expenses and those of the Totality and Self. While 250,000 GDM are left, the Central Bank is expecting the State, Totality, and Self to increase that figure as the other 750,000 GDM circulates throughout that nation.

This 750,000 GDM can become irrevocably lost under the Work-Standard if the economic activities that originally contributed the 1,000,000 GDM were destroyed due to enemy action. In the following workweek, 110,000 GDM in potential State Revenue were decimated by the enemy. The enemy also inflicted 230,000 GDM worth of damage to infrastructure, vehicles and buildings. The Council State had to pay for the damages, leaving it with only 20,000 GDM in the Life-Energy Reserve.       

By the end of that workweek, the Life-Energy Reserve received a contribution of 890,000 GDM. Add the preexisting 20,000 GDM and the TPP value is now 910,000 GDM. The Council State, like the previous workweek, had to spend 750,000 GDM as part of the State Expenses and those of the Totality and Self. While another 750,000 GDM are circulating throughout the nation, 160,000 GDM stay in the Life-Energy Reserve. Although the Council State could reallocate the remaining 160,000 GDM to its State Budget, it is far more prudent to save it. If the enemy manages to cause the Life-Energy Reserve to go into the negative, Schuld will begin to accumulate. The effect will be no different than a similar situation that could also in peacetime: allowing the Requisitionary Productive Forces (RPF) to outpace the TPP.

Another scenario of interest to the Cyberwarfare is the possibility of somebody hacking the LERE Refineries or the Blockcycle Technology to siphon Digital Arbeit and Digital Geld or Actual Arbeit and Actual Geld as it travels across the National Intranet to the Life-Energy Reserve at the Central Bank. Going back to the above example, enemy hackers could either redirect the Digital Arbeit and Digital Geld in the National Intranet to their nation’s own Life-Energy Reserve over the International Internet. Alternatively, they might be ambitious enough to consider rewriting the computer data to say that, instead of a 20,000 GDM contribution of Digital Arbeit and Digital Geld, the targeted National Intranet apparently made 12,000 GDM. The remaining 8,000 GDM could be taken by the hackers and redirected to their own accounts or their nation’s Life-Energy Reserve. Either possibility must be anticipated and counteracted.

Military Arbeit and Military Geld in the Digital Realm

To understand how Military Arbeit and Military Geld apply to the Digital Realm, it is necessary to recall how Military Arbeit and Military Geld apply in the Real World. Recall the discussion on the topic back in The Work-Standard (2^nd Ed.). The Military-Industrial Complex and anyone working for it can create Military Arbeit and Military Geld from carrying out the economic activities of the Armaments Industry as well as executing the functions of the armed forces. Everything that one normally associates with the armed forces on an everyday basis is a potential source of Military Arbeit and Military Geld. In peacetime, the flow of Military Arbeit and Military Geld is stable, static and constant. In wartime, however, the rates are more ebb and flow, rising and falling in lockstep with victory and defeat.       

More importantly, the convertibility of any Military Arbeit and Military Geld made on the battlefield into Actual Arbeit and Actual Geld is dependent on whether it was created in the nation or outside its borders. Defensively, the Central Bank can oversee their conversions; offensively, it is the Ministry of War that handles that task. If the Council State deems that it is necessary for the civilians in the SSE and VCS Economy should contribute to the war effort, their production processes will start contributing Military Arbeit and Military Geld as the result of the transition toward armaments production. That in turn also means that they will no longer be contributing Actual Arbeit and Actual Geld until either the cessation of hostilities or they have been allowed by the Council State to cease further armaments production.

We can expect a similar arrangement to be applicable to the National Intranet, where those tasked with defending it will be contributing Military Arbeit and Military Geld. Since the Digital Arbeit and Digital Geld both Military Arbeit and Military Geld will yield Actual Arbeit and Actual Geld, knowing the Professions and Vocations of those working in the National Intranet is decisive.

• Are the Computer Scientists, Programmers and Engineers working for the Military-Industrial Complex? Those who are will be contributing Military Arbeit and Military Geld instead of Digital Arbeit and Digital Geld. Whether they are volunteers or conscripts, the formula remains the same because their activities are furthering the defensive readiness of their State and Totality.
• Alternatively, are the Computer Scientists, Programmers and Engineers working in Digital Enterprises on the National Intranet, the SSE, VCS Economy, Reciprocal-Reserve Banking System or the Council State? Compared to those in the former, these personnel will be contributing Digital Arbeit and Digital Geld. In wartime, should the Council State decide that they must support the war effort, their activities will be converted to Military Arbeit and Military Geld as part of bolstering the National Cyberdefense.     

Defending the National Intranet

The National Cyberdefense of the National Intranet in the Digital Realm will be organized around the existing digital infrastructure. Every location mentioned elsewhere in the preceding Entries of this Treatise is a potential target to attack and to defend. What is to be said about the defenders can also be said about the attackers in the inverse. After all, both the defenders and the attackers will be focusing all of their efforts in the same locations throughout the National Intranet and the broader International Internet.

• The first line of defense is the Social Courts themselves. They may be attractive and lucrative in peacetime, but all of that will change in wartime. To breach the National Intranet, enemy hackers must pass through the Social Courts in order to reach the “Entry/Exit Nodes” facilitating access to and from the National Intranet. All information and visitors from the International Internet have to reach one of those Entry/Exit Nodes before they can enter the National Intranet.
• It is precisely at those Entry/Exit Nodes that the second line of defense is to be organized. It is here where all access to and from the National Intranet can be easily shut down by the Council State. Information cannot enter or leave the National Intranet. A single cyberattack can be stopped in its tracks here. The challenge is that the attackers are not going to attract enough attention in the Real World for the Council State, via the Ministry of Science and Technology, to react. If they did, they would have squandered their opportunity of inflicting any catastrophic damage to the targeted National Intranet. Worse, they might have even alerted the State and Totality of their presence.  
• Should the attackers capture the Entry/Exit Nodes, the third line of defense is the Social Forums themselves. Every Social Forum is connected to each other insofar as each of them falls under the jurisdiction of their Regional and Municipal governments back in the Real World. The Regional and Municipal governments have the initiative of shutting access to and from the rest of the National Intranet if any of the Social Forums were to be overrun.
• The fourth and final line of defense are the Intranet Service Providers (ISPs). For attacking hackers to reach the destination of their intended target, they have to hit the ISPs and either breach or bypass their defenses. The ISPs by contrast must establish a hasty defensive in order to prevent the attackers getting to their target. It is all over for the defenders if the ISPs were to fall.       

All the usual plethora of programs and applications to defend the National Intranet can be extended to the State and Totality. Computer Scientists, Programmers and Engineers should consider developing anti-malware software that is easy to install, easy to deploy, and easy to maintain in the event of a cyberwar. The National Cyberdefense is an extension of the actual National Defense back in the Real World. If the State and Totality are able to defend their nation offline, they should also be able to do the same online.              

Categories: Digital Realm

Tags: Digital Realm, Economics, Finance, National Intranet, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Socialist Finance, Third Place, Work-Standard