Cyber : The New Frontier Of International Law

The United States government’s primary priority is to protect its citizens, assets and resources from any form of external or internal terror threats and criminal acts. The 21st century’s most exciting innovation, the Internet and its one of mankind’s greatest technological achievements of all time. The Internet, unified international borders and connected the earth like never before from one corner to the other with just a click of a button. Cyberspace is the term that is used in the computer industry for “the notional environment in which communication over computer networks occurs”. The internet and information networks have changed the very fabric of our fundamental neural network processes in our brain, and which without it the modern

In the article, Thomas Rid’s main argument other than the contention that cyber war will not happen is that cyber war is completely misplaced if not entirely misunderstood. He argues that the concept of cyber war is not in tandem with the historical definition and understanding of what constitutes ‘’war’’. Rid’s definition of war, borrowed from Carl von Clausewitz, is that war must constitute three elements: violence, instrumental and political. (Rid, Cyber War Will Not Take Place, 2012) Therefore, his main argument against the possibility for cyber war is premised on the idea that cyber war can never have or express the above three elements. He further argues that at best, cyber war can achieve some of the above criteria such as violence

4. “Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace,” National Institute of Standards and Technology Computer Security Division, 10 July 2011, http://csrc.nist.gov/groups /SMA/ispab/documents/DOD-Strategy-for-Operating-in-Cyberspace.pdf.

Cyberwarfare - The strengthening of our advantage in the cyber domain directly influences the operational environment by preventing the degradation of the technological advantage we currently enjoy. Despite known and predicted risk, we currently have a 10:1 advantage over our nearest peer competitor China, as regards technology, research, and development. (Miller, p.11) A failure to protect and defend our cyber domain could have catastrophic effects on our infrastructure, economy, military capabilities, and even threaten the public’s confidence in our democratic process (CCJO JF 2030, p. A-1). Non-state actors use of cyber warfare presents a unique challenge to nation states in that it has the potential to degrade traditional forms of national power such as diplomacy, information, military and economic power (Miller, p.34).

cyber policy has embraced this idea. “The Plan declared that in order for it to succeed, government and the private sector must work together in a partnership. However since the regulation has been in place it has failed to provide the security necessary to protect U.S. critical infrastructure from a cyber attack. Even Congress has been slow to act regarding almost all aspects of cyber policy (Wolf, J. 12 July, 2012).” One of the problems facing a comprehensive cyber security bill is that computers have become so omnipresent in our daily lives that they cross every sector of the economy. It is not surprising that application of the laws of war to cyber attacks has recently been a popular topic in politics. Some have even analyzed whether a cyber attack can constitute an armed attack, it can but, whether a cyber attack with a specified effect constitutes a use of force. An example, if the U.S. could prove that Iran absolute sent a computer virus that infected a Wall Street, would dropping a bomb on Iran be justify? A responsible nation must always consider the possibilities of collateral damage in deciding whether an act of self defense is justified, be it cyber or kinetic. While the United States must undoubtedly increase its cyber defense capabilities, the nation cannot retreat behind a Line of firewalls. As in the fight against terrorism, the United States must be vigilant and aggressive in the face of both cyber attacks and

networks are also being targeted by malicious activity” [Overall statistics for 2014]. Many of the technologies used within these systems are now being exploited by criminals trying to access information and perform other criminal activities. The main reason for this is because most of the infrastructure in place is controlled by IT systems and the security systems in place

Cyber-space and cyber-warfare are two terms that have varied definitions from between agencies and institutions. Since there are varying definitions of cyber-space it is important to accurately define the new digital domain where cyber-warfare will take place. A comprehensive definition of cyberspace explicated by Thomas Wingfield states,

Cybersecurity, cyber conflict, cyberwarfare, cyberattack. In addition to these terms, there are countless others relating to the evolving technological capabilities and the emerging ?battlespace? dimension that is cyberspace. A robust volume of scholarly literature has attempted to address numerous emerging security concerns in the cyber realm making cybersecurity one of the most discussed areas of study. Key leaders in the field of cybersecurity including General (ret.) Keith Alexander has stated that threats from the cyber realm are going to be some of the top security challenges the United States faces in the 21st century.[footnoteRef:1]

While cyberspace has emerged as a contested domain of increasing operational dependence and corresponding vulnerability to cyber attacks (JOAC, i), extrapolation to an era of cyberwar is unjustified as cyber attacks alone do not constitute an act of war and cyberspace should not be considered in isolation in regard to war.

The branches of the military, for a couple generations, have always been the Army, Navy, Air force, Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard; however, in an ever evolving digital world, the notion that outer space would be the next military front is being rapidly replaced by the idea that cyber space will be the next arms race. The United States has been defending attacks on their infrastructure day after day, night after night, when one hacker on one side of the world sleeps, another takes their place to attempt to compromise the US government. The motives may range from a political ‘hacktivist’ trying to prove a point, to an economic spy, trying to gain a competitive edge on its more upstart rivals, to an attempt to control the United States

Understanding the situation of Information Warfare and Cyber-Terrorism requires the acknowledgement and discussion of relevant facts. The United States has spied on other countries in the past, currently spies on other countries, and will spy on other countries for a long time to come. One example is our current situation with China. As China grows economically and militarily they present a possible future threat to the United States. "More fundamentally, there is a question about the long-term future of the U.S.-China relationship as China actualizes its enormous economic potential and becomes an ever stronger regional power. There are some basic incompatibilities between our two countries, and these are a source of tension” (Davidson). Another fact is that the United States uses Information Warfare techniques to spy on other countries. “Of all forms of intelligence collection, aerial surveillance from international airspace is among the most benign and non-intrusive. It is quite different from bribing officials or literally stealing secrets”

While wars continue to rage in the middle east and tensions build over increasingly hostile Russian military activity, a silent and often forgotten battle is being waged on a battlefield unable to be seen. This battlefield is located in cyberspace and may determine and shape the future of all prospective battles and wars to come. In this paper, we will look at two separate countries, Belgium, and Russia, and examine what their cyber strategies are pertaining to warfare and defense or security, and current capabilities of these countries regarding cyber-attacks or warfare. We will also be looking at the potential risks these countries present to the United States and the best was the United States can defend against these potential or emerging threats.

The Internet has experienced a magnificent development over the past two decades, from a petite network limited chiefly to the scientific society to a universal network that counts more than two billion users. With development came rising applications for the Internet, which feed extra expansion and tranquil more applications, to contain the rise of a cyber financial system, widespread computerized regulation of key manage systems, an explosion in the division and storing of information the appearance of new forms of electronic communiqué such as email, and communal networking, among others.

The term Cybercrime is used to refer to any crime that is conducted with the help of computer or network. Internet was not designed to be secure. Information technology provides different ways of communication for exchange of fast, cheap and secure information. But can also be used as a means of communication to help existing criminal activities, and to provide new way for criminal activities. Cyber crime is not a static way of crime. The introduction of new technology also expands the range of potential victims. In the past 20 years the ICT industry has had phenomenal growth by agreeing global technical standards and disciplines from hypertext to Wi-Fi but when it comes to Cyber security many standards are just not followed.(John Stuffolk, Global Head of Cyber security, 17 Huawei 'We should learn from the cold war to strengthen cyberspace ' Financial Times, 21

Former director of the National Security Agency, Mike McConnell, wrote “We need to develop an early-warning system to monitor cyberspace, identify intrusions and locate the source of attacks with a trail of evidence that can support diplomatic, military and legal options - and we must be able to do this in milliseconds. More specifically, we need to reengineer the Internet to make attribution, geolocation, intelligence analysis and impact assessment - who did it, from where, why and what was the result - more manageable” (McConnell 2010, 2).