Hello and welcome to my new blog on Cyber Warfare. This inaugural post introduces me and gives an overview of what interests me about Cyber Warfare and therefore what I may comment on in the coming months.
My name is Angus Urquhart and I am a 22 year old Brit studying for a Masters degree in War and Society at Swansea University. I have a broad interest in history, warfare and international affairs. The connection between my Masters’ studies and Cyber Warfare is, I hope, obvious; current affairs are living history and, I would argue, the World’s societies are and have been experiencing Cyber Warfare for some time. This is worrying for our futures because it is destabilising, so we need to understand more about it – quickly
Some of those attacks are perpetrated by criminals against individuals, but I discount those in this blog, unpleasant and unsettling for Society as they are. Instead what really interests me is state organised or sponsored Cyber Warfare because that, it seems clear to me, is what we are experiencing now. I hope you do not think it too much of a cliché to mention Clausewitz, because his famous dictum is apposite and completely applicable: Cyber Warfare is now clearly part of the range of means that can be used in inter-state conflict.
Are we now in a new Cold War? It looks like it; and it seems to have caught western governments out, at least that is the impression they give. Indeed the UK has only recently begun preparations ‘…to launch a new cyber warfare unit to counter the increasingly hostile online actions of adversaries including Russia, North Korea and Iran.’
It is the imaginative and variable use of Cyber Warfare that is so interesting. On the one hand there are the direct assaults that disrupt and destroy state networks, unsettling governments and their populations. On the other hand there are, if the news is to be believed, sophisticated manipulation of social media and dissemination of fake news to influence national elections. Are the latter forms of Cyber Warfare? Intuitively I think so, hence in this my first blog I do not want to lay down strict boundaries on what constitutes Cyber Warfare.
Cyber Warfare is undoubtedly here to stay as the world is so reliant on digital technology to run almost every aspect of our daily lives. It would be safe and reasonable to predict that the next major conflict between developed nations will feature Cyber Warfare. It may change the nature of kinetic warfare, given the reliance on technology for command and control systems, smart weapons etc. If Cyber defences are breached, might it paralyse the ability to conduct kinetic warfare? Could it be that Cyber Warfare as a legitimate means of non-kinetic asymmetric warfare is now the norm?
Some phrases explained:
‘Cyberwarfare is the unauthorized penetration by, on behalf of, or in support of, a government in another nation’s computer or network. Or any other activity affecting a computer system, in which the purpose is to add, alter or falsify data, or cause the disruption of or damage to a computer, or network device, or the objects a computer system controls’ – Richard A. Clarke
Kinetic warfare focuses on defeating enemy forces through the application of physical effects (i.e. traditional mean of fighting)
Non-Kinetic warfare uses non physical means, such as psychological and cyber warfare, to defeat the enemy.
Swansea Student Blog on Cyber Warfare 