As we talked about earlier, there are actually rules to war. The question is what constitutes war at this time? Can we easily define who our enemy is?
This is a clip from an old(er) TV show – The West Wing. An interesting idea of who is at war, and how do we know. This obviously is referencing terrorism, but it has application here as well.
With the idea almost all weapons/soldiers needing technology, the idea of cyber warfare is one that everyone must consider. We’ve done it for years at various levels, from disrupting communication and radars, to working with viruses to attack specialized equipment. The rumor is the US and Israel implemented Stuxnet to attack Iranian nuclear centrifuges.
But what if someone were to say a power grid should be targeted, because it feeds a military base. But what if it also supplies power to a hospital?
Of course, what about ransom ware attacks that target hospitals, schools, etc? Some are by criminal gangs but some are rumored to be funded by governments. Is that an attack by a government if they don’t attempt to stop it, or pay people so it can happen? Does this constitute a war scenario, or only if we are at war?
https://www.cfr.org/report/cyberattack-us-power-grid
So if we’re attacked, do we attack back? And if so, with what? Do we treat it as state sponsored terrorism, or is it a legitimate first attack where you can assume other attacks will follow, given that mass amounts of communication will go down, as well as first responders being extra busy due to down traffic lights, life saving equipment being used, etc.
How to you prepare for something that hasn’t happened … yet, here?
On the other hand, can you encourage it’s use, as it can save lives by not allowing troops to get to location(s), and thus both your troops and enemy troops may not be killed in action, at least initially.
The Ethics of Cyber Warfare was originally found on Access 2 Learn
