Cyber warfare brings an erasure between war and peace. The conflict was conventional and required explicit military engagements. Attacks such as espionage and sabotage are done through cyber operation which is a constant process; there is no declaration of hostilities. This continual violence changes the nature of actions of war and jeopardizes the security of a period of peace, establishing a long term susceptibility beyond the conventional concept of war.
It creates dangerous asymmetry. Larger powers are inadequately challenged by smaller states or non-state actors that can afford to grow powerful cyber capabilities relatively inexpensively. Advanced hacks could severely disable infrastructure or economies without the use of physical troops and radically shift the balance of global power and threat to the environment.
The problem with attribution is a game changer against conventional deterrence. Tracing the exact source of a cyberattack is usually tedious and time-consuming. This gray area is used by the malicious actors to conduct their attacks with plausible deniability. It creates ambiguity regarding using traditional military or diplomatic strategies, which are ineffective and complicated.
The war front goes way beyond the physical frontiers to the civilian lives. Cyber threats take an explicit aim at key military targets: power, financial, and healthcare networks. The security of the nation has become the responsibility of the durability of privately-owned and online systems and requires strong working confusion between the state and the private sector, and changes the security perimeter completely.
This requires radical new security policies and formations. The effects of the standard military power provides inadequate defense towards cyber attacks. An accountable security rests with decent cyber defense, robust infrastructure critical systems, global cyber, and robust offense standards. Reinforcement of general cyber defense, exchange of intelligence and unified response should be a top priority.
Conclusion:
Cyber warfare basically changes warfare and security. It confuses war and peace, enables asymmetric players, makes it hard to identify the responsible parties, and aims at civilian targets. National defense is based not only on defending physical boundaries, but also on protected networks. Adaptation requires novel teachings, durable infra-structures, public-private partnership, global norms, and association with the common effort to shield cyber protection against this wide-ranging menace.
