It is interesting that China has been under suspicion for nearly most of the cyber attacks involving the U.S. However, in most cases one cannot say for sure that the attacks did originate from China, because it is easy to hide the origin of the hack. However, the economic relationship between China and the U.S. puts an additional strain on any suggestions. Some U.S. advisers have claimed that China has been stealing information from U.S. companies to be used by Chinese businesses. The competition and tense trade between the two countries make the situations of cyber attacks all the more controversial. One may consider taking these attacks as an indication of a new arms race. The U.S. has definitely made plans to amp up its own cyber security. Since President Bush launched the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI), the government has been looking into heavily recruiting cyber experts and hackers to help protect systems. Additionally, the Pentagon has decided to officially label cyber attacks as “acts of war” that should be responded with real-world force (Oswald). This brings about the issue whether retaliation should occur only if attacks result in physical damage, or even if they merely compromise information and wealth. Currently, cyber assaults on governments have been small scale and only a couple have even included full control of systems accessed cyber space. Nevertheless, every country is on the watch for more threatening attacks. The U.S. has been especially worried about virtual attacks since 9.11. fearing that terrorist groups may take their aggression out in cyber space. Since the U.S. has numerous computer controlled machines and an advanced systematized infrastructure, it could be more vulnerable to cyber attacks than many other countries. It is, however, also advanced in being able to launch its own cyber attacks. Will the U.S. be willing to launch its own serious of assaults? We have seen one example with Stuxnet but will there be more and could this result in other countries declaring war on us?
“Educating Elite Hackers.” March 9, 2010. The Daily Beast. http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/03/09/educating-elite-hackers.html.
I can't see the US pulling any cyber attacks directly because the potential ramifications are so much worse than what we would gain. Attacking another nation would just invite controversy and further alienate us from the rest of the world. If the US really felt that they had to attack another nation through cyber attacks, I feel as though they would contract independent hackers and claim no responsibility if anyone was caught. This would seem like the smartest solution to me.
ReplyDeleteSince China has attacked the US first, I could see two possible paths that the US could take to respond:
ReplyDelete1. Make our own cyberattack as quickly as possible and target the direct source of the initial attack. Since we're more dependent on digital resources than any other country, we should have the right to protect our way of life. If it is indeed an 'act of war,' then we should treat it as such, even though the ramifications of doing so might be ominous for us.
2. Alternately, do nothing. This seems like a soft option, but we need to keep up our image in the rest of the world. Some other countries might even see it within China's rights to attack us, since we've borrowed so much money and it doesn't look hopeful that we'll be paying it back soon. For us to attack China when we're so much in their debt would send an awful image of our international policy.
Either one of these options seems viable; it just depends on what we judge to be most important - security or global image.
I think one of the really interesting things that this points out is how hard it is to trace a cyber attack. The attacks were suspected to originate in China, but the US couldn't be sure. That puts the United States in a dilemma because it makes it almost impossible to provide justification for some type of retaliation. Granted, the US could try to make a cyber attack of its own that would also be difficult to connect to the US government, but that still would run the risk of severely damaging national image.
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