On Levels of Deterrence in the Cyber Domain
Abstract:
Deterrence is a coercive strategy to avoid escalation to direct conflicts. In the Cold War, nuclear deterrence was successfully used to prevent a war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In the cyber domain, which is man-made and virtual, how deterrence can be effectively applied is one of today’s biggest challenges. To address this challenge, this article first identifies and categorises different types of operations in the cyber domain based on their impact. It then proposes a new model of deterrence implementation that incorporates cyber deterrence into traditional deterrence. This novel approach not only makes it possible to effectively apply varied types of deterrence measures based on corresponding contexts in varied domains, but it also makes possible the use of cyber means for retaliation in non-cyber domains of warfare, thus enriching deterrence theories as a whole.
AUTHORS
National Defense University Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., U.S.
United States
Dr.Jim Q. Chen is a Professor of Cyber Studies in the College of Information and Cyberspace at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., U.S. His expertise is in cyber warfare,cyber deterrence,cyber strategy, cyber-security technology, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. He has published widely on these topics.
Published In
Journal of Information Warfare
The definitive publication for the best and latest research and analysis on information warfare, information operations, and cyber crime. Available in traditional hard copy or online.
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