Cyberconflicts as a Threat for the Modern State

CANABARRO, D. R. ; BORNE, T. ; CEPIK, M. A. C. . Three Controversies on Cyberwar: a Critical Perspective. In: MPSA Annual Conference, 2013, Chicago - IL - Estados Unidos. MPSA Conference Paper Archive, 2013, on line. The spread of contemporary information and communication technologies among state and non-state actors adds new dimensions to the study of diffusion in global politics. The Digital Era brings about different challenges for national and international security policymaking, heating up academic and political debate surrounding the scope and the implications of the term cyberwar. This paper surveys the evolution of academic and technical production on cyberwar with the intention of providing background for the critical evaluation of the Brazilian case. Finally, it details the prospective research agenda that follows from the evaluation of the Brazilian case.

A short essay prepared in light of Social & Professional Issues of the Information Age, questioning the ethicalities of cyber warfare, compared to traditional warfare.

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 2014

This article aims to show how science and technology are used in cyber warfare as one of the weapons of modern warfare and what to do to use it solely for the good of humanity.

This article focuses on the ethical analysis of cyber warfare, the warfare characterised by the deployment of ICTs. It addresses the vacuum of ethical principles surrounding this phenomenon by providing an ethical framework for the definition of such principles. The article is divided in three parts. The first one considers cyber warfare in relation to the so-called information revolution and provides a conceptual analysis of this kind of warfare. The second part focuses on the ethical problems posed by cyber warfare and describes the issues that arise when Just War Theory is endorsed to address them. The final part introduces Information Ethics as a suitable ethical framework for the analysis of cyber warfare, and argues that the vacuum of ethical principles for this kind warfare is overcome when Just War Theory and Information Ethics are merged together.

Internet can be considered as one of the greatest achievements of humanity of the last century, which connected the entire world. It created a new space for connections, information and communications, as well as cooperation. Thus, it created also a new platform for conflicts that involved not only individuals but also states. The invention of the twentieth century, the Internet, has become another sphere for international relations, and a new space for defensive and offensive policies for regulating and balancing those affairs. The space called cyberspace has become a platform for interactions not only between individuals , but also between states. The interactions on their side were not only developed in a positive manner, but were also transformed into attacks, which pose a real threat to the security of states. Thus, the following questions arise: Can cyberspace be considered a new sphere for war? Can conflicts and offensive and defensive operations in cyberspace be considered a real war? The aim of this article is to specify offensive and defensive actions occurring in cyberspace and to explain the differences and similarities between them and the classical approach to war present in other spheres: land, water, air, and space. Despite the overgrowth of offensive interactions in cyberspace and defensive strategies for enriching the cyber arsenal of states, military specialists have concerns over the reality of cyberwars in general. Parallels are drawn to show the similarities and differences between definitions and perceptions of war, and whether concepts from the classical approach can be transferred to describe wars in the cyber sphere. This research puts cyberwars in line with other wars, thus analyzing their peculiarities, whilst Cyberspace is seen as another sphere for war and international relations in addition to the existing spheres of land, water, air, and space * Doctoral Student, Nanjing University, School of International Studies.

The paper is presenting the examination of the cyberwarfare phenomenon in its legal context. The cyberattacks are increasingly effective measures of modern combat and would probably become the most crucial dimension of forthcoming armed conflict. The role of the international humanitarian law is to determine whenever the cyberattack is reaching the threshold of an armed conflict. The aim of the article is to present the existing framework of ius in bello in terms of its temporal scope of applicability, especially in the light of the Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare. It supported conclusion that the international law requires an revision of the armed conflict definition to sufficiently addressed the challenges arising from growing cyber activity.

The Defence Horizon Journal, 2022

This paper addresses the role of ethical considerations in hybrid warfare. In particular, it seeks to outline how cyber operations in the context of hybrid warfare can meet the demands of justice. The paper will start with a brief outline of the problem of cyber ethics and situate “cyber” within the concept of hybrid threats. It examines the purposes of ethical considerations in cyber warfare, especially concerning the tension and possible convergence of ethics and strategy. Exploring the notion of justice as understood by ethics and international law, it finally discusses the uses of just war theory in cyber warfare.

As technologies create new modes, or domains, of war, existing theories of war are, of necessity, reevaluated to adapt them to new capabilities of war fighting. The most obvious example of this was the development of theories of war after the introduction of heavier-than-air aircraft in the early 20th Century. Cyberspace, as a domain of war, is both new and pervasive. This paper addresses a theory of war in cyberspace from an historical perspective and describes how it has become necessary to change currently understood theories to make them applicable to the unique characteristics of cyberspace. It is about war both from and within the cyber domain. War from cyberspace is distinctly Western while war within cyberspace is distinctly not so.

Oxford University Press, 2017

First monograph linking ethics and conduct of cyber conflict, including for the first time a description of "state-sponsored hacktivism" as the preferred mode of cyber warfare. Offers the first sustained critique of the Tallinn Manual on international law pertaining to cyber conflict. Discusses the emergence of norms of responsible state behavior for nations engaged in cyber conflict, as well as a voluntary "code of ethics" for each nation's cyber warriors.

Does the advent of cyber-war require us to abandon the traditional ethical framework for thinking about the morality of warfare - just war theory - and develop principles specific to the unique nature of cyber-attacks? Or can just war theory still provide an appropriate basis for thinking through the ethical issues raised by cyber-weapons? This article explores these questions via the issue of whether a cyber-attack can constitute a casus belli. The first half of the paper critically engages with recent attempts to provide a new theory of just information warfare (JIW) that is supposedly better suited to the unique character of cyber war insofar as it is grounded the broader meta-ethical framework of information ethics (IE). Yet the paper argues that not only is JIW fundamentally unsuitable as a way of thinking about cyber-war, but (in the second half) that it is possible to develop a different account of how we can understand a cyber-attack as constituting a casus belli in a way that is in keeping with traditional just war theory. In short, there is no need to reinvent just war theory for the digital age.

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies

Cyber warfare; International humanitarian law; ius ad bellum; ius in bello; Self-defense Definition/Description The development of cyber capabilities among state and non-state actors, as well as the increase of cyber dependency has made cyber conflict a plausible reality and no longer a hypothetical example. There is a general agreement among scholars and states that the traditional concept of conflict as set out in the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol remains the same and is applicable to any new technological weapons and thus also applicable to cyberspace. However, the sophistication of cyber capabilities of states and the amplification of power of non-state actors in cyberspace have shifted the paradigms and blurred the lines of the clear delineation between international and non-international armed conflict and when the use of cyber capabilities triggers a conflict. As such the article will aim to provide some insight on when the use of cyber weapons by state actors can result in a conflict if the requisite cyber operation reaches the threshold of an armed attack. Given the technical capacities of some non-state actors to conduct dangerous cyber operations that can amount to armed attacks, the question arises if these attacks can trigger a conflict and how that conflict would be classified and lastly how do the Laws of Armed Conflict (LOAC) apply to cyber conflict particularly with regard to non-state actors and non-international armed conflicts.

Strategic Analysis, 2010

The last couple of decades have seen a colossal change in terms of the influence that computers have on the battle field, to an extent that defence pundits claim it to be a dawn of a new era in warfare. The use of computers and information in defence has manifested into various force multipliers such as Information Operations, C4I2SR Systems, Network Centric Warfare, to the extent that commentators are terming this information age as a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). These advances have not only revolutionized the way in which wars are fought, but have also initiated a new battle for the control of a new dimension in the current contemporary world: The Cyber Space. Over time cyber warfare has assumed the shape of an elephant assessed by a group of blind people, with every one drawing different meanings based upon their perceptions. Under these circumstances there was a gradual paradigm shift in military thinking and strategies, from the strategic aspect to the tactical aspect of cyber warfare laying more emphasis on cyber attacks and counter measures. This resulted in the formation of a notion that cyber warfare or information warfare is a potent force multiplier, which in a sense downgraded the strategic aspects of cyber war to a low grade tactical warfare used primarily for a force enhancement effect. The author believes this is wrong, cyber war is a new form of warfare and, rather than cyber war merely being an enhancement of traditional operations, traditional operations will be force multipliers of cyber war. This paper tries to shatter myths woven around cyber warfare so as to illuminate the strategic aspects of this relatively misinterpreted notion. This paper will elucidate the scenarios and mechanisms illuminating the process of using the strategies of cyber war, so as to achieve conventional objectives. The paper will also analyze the doctrine and strategies including first and second strike capabilities with regard to cyber war. This paper identifies a paradigm shift from the conventional belief of cyber warfare acting as a force multiplier for conventional warfare to the recognition, that conventional warfare will be acting as a force multiplier around cyber war and hence making cyber war as the primary means of achieving grand strategic objectives in the contemporary world order.

International Relations theory has endured two failures in the last half century. No International Relations theorist foresaw the end of the Cold War. Likewise with the rise of Cyber War. Whilst the Internet is acknowledged as having the CIA as its parent, no one predicted that it would become a theatre for conflict. Cyber War is here and its impact on our lives will only increase in time. It is only a matter of time before a completely cyber conflict is waged. Yet no theory on Cyber War exists…until now.

The International Spectator, 2018

The convergence of telecommunication and computer technologies that has evolved in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the last two decades has had very important effects on new war technologies and the ongoing process of battlefield digitisation. The Stuxnet worm, uncovered in 2010 and responsible for the sabotaging of a uranium enrichment infrastructure in Iran, is a clear example of a digital weapon. The incident shows what is meant by cyber war and what the particular features of this new warfare dimension are compared to the conventional domains of land, sea, air and space, with relevance both at the operational and strategic levels. But cyberspace also extends to the semantic level, within the complimentary field of information warfare involving the content of messages flowing through the Internet for the purposes of propaganda, information, disinformation, consensus building, etc. The overall cyber warfare domain needs to be put into perspective internationally as many countries are developing strong cyber capabilities and an 'arms race' is already taking place, showing that these technologies can potentially be used to undermine international stability and security. What is needed is a public debate on the topic and its impact on global stability, and some kind of regulation or international agreement on this new warfare domain, including an approach involving confidence building measures (CBMs).