USA to Bomb Cyber-Attackers, UK Develops Cyber-Weapons

First published: 01^st June 2011

The trend towards incorporating ICT in warfare is accelerating. In the USA, the Pentagon's first formal cyber strategy declares that computer sabotage carried out by another nation can constitute an act of war that warrants a response of traditional military force, or, to put it in simplistic terms, "You hack us, we bomb you". On the opposite side of the Atlantic, the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is taking the lead in developing a range of offensive cyber weapons for the British military.

According to the USA strategy, computer sabotage would have to threaten American lives, commerce, or infrastructure, and there would need to be indisputable evidence that a particular country was behind a specific incident, before military retaliation was used.

In the UK, Minister of State for the Armed Forces Nick Harvey said that he now regards cyber weapons as "an integral part of the country's armoury" and that the logic and standards that operate in other domains translate into cyberspace.

Coming shortly after China's admission that it has a "cyber army", it is clear that every country that is, or wants to be considered as, a World Power is developing both defensive and offensive cyber capabilities, and planning how to integrate them with existing military strategy.