By Franz-Stefan Gady
It may be worthwhile discussing the differences between analog and digital weapon arsenals.
The United States promises to follow international norms when conducting offensive cyberwar operations, reports Defense One. Speaking at the Navy League’s Sea Air Space conference last week, Adm. Michael Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, noted that cyber weapons are just the next evolutionary step in warfare and that, as a consequence, the rules of war should apply in cyberspace.
“Remember, anything we do in the cyber arena … must follow the law of conflict. Our response must be proportional, must be in line with the broader set of norms that we’ve created over time. I don’t expect cyber to be any different,” emphasized Rogers.
He also attempted to put cyber weapons (e.g, worms, viruses, remote manual control, key loggers etc.) into historical context:
I’m sure there were huge reactions to the development of mass firepower in the 1800s as a new kind of warfighting implement. Cyber represents change, a different technical application to attempt to achieve some of the exact same effects, just do it in a different way. Like those other effects, I think, over time, we’ll have a broad discussion in terms of our sense of awareness, both in terms of capabilities as well as limitations.
However, is it really that easy to apply international rules of war to cyberspace given the obvious difference between an analog and cyber a weapon? Back in 2011, I was part of a joint Russia-U.S. research team, which attempted to address this question by rendering the Geneva and Hague conventions in cyberspace.
Read the full story at The Diplomat