Cyber warfare, meaning interstate cyber aggression, is an increasingly important emerging phenomenon in international relations, with state-orchestrated (or apparently state-orchestrated) computer network attacks occurring in Estonia (2007), Georgia (2008) and Iran (2010).
This method of waging warfare – given its potential to, for example, make planes fall from the sky or cause nuclear power plants to melt down – has the capacity to be as devastating as any conventional means of conducting armed conflict. Every state in the world now has a cyber-defence programme and over 120 states also have a cyber-attack programme.
While the amount of literature on cyber warfare is growing within disciplines, our understanding of the subject has been limited by a lack of cross-disciplinary engagement. In response, this book, drawn from the fields of computer science, military strategy, international law, political science and military ethics, provides a critical overview of cyber warfare for those approaching the topic from whatever angle.
Chapters consider the emergence of the phenomena of cyber warfare in international affairs what cyber-attacks are from a technological standpoint the extent to which cyber-attacks can be attributed to state actors the strategic value and danger posed by cyber conflict the legal regulation of cyber-attacks, both as international uses of force and as part of an on-going armed conflict, and the ethical implications of cyber warfare.