International Cyber Terrorism

II. Cyberwarfare
Cyberwarfare is a broad term describing the use of technological force
within cyberspace. ‘Cyberwarfare’ does not imply scale, protraction or violence which
are typically associated with the term ‘war’. There is significant debate among experts
regarding the definition of cyberwarfare, and even if such a thing exists. The term
‘Cyberwarfare’ is a misnomer, to date no offensive cyber actions could be described as
‘war’. Offensive cyber actions, such as those in Estonia in 2007, Georgia in 2008, Iran in
2010, North Korea have occurred in the context of international relations, only resulting
in condemnation and denial by sides.
Cyberwarfare may not meet the typical definition of the term war, however, many states
including the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, India, China, Israel, Iran, North
Korea and Vietnam have active cyber operations for offensive and defensive
operations. As states explore the
use of cyber operations and
combine capabilities the
likelihood of physical
confrontation and violence playing out
as a result of, or
part of, a cyber
operation is increased.
However, meeting the scale and
protracted nature of war is unlikely,
thus ambiguity remains.
The first instance of kinetic force
used in response
to a cyber-attack
resulting in the loss
of human life was
observed on May 5, 2019, when
the Israel Defense
Forces targeted
and destroyed a building associated with an on-going cyber-attack.
Definition
A number of definitions of cyberwarfare have been proposed, with no single definition
being widely adopted internationally. Richard A. Clarke defines it as "actions by a
nation-state to penetrate another nation's computers or networks for the purposes of
causing damage or disruption." Martin Libicki defines two types of cyberwarfare:
Strategic and operational, with strategic being "a campaign of cyberattacks one entity
carries out on another", whilst operational cyberwarfare "involves the use of
cyberattacks on the other side’s military in the context of a physical war."
Other definitions include non-state actors, such as terrorist groups, companies, political
or ideological extremist groups, terrorist hacktivists, and transnational criminal
organizations.
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