Chinese hackers are determined to ‘wreak havoc’ on US critical infrastructure, FBI director warns::FBI Director Chris Wray has told House lawmakers that Chinese government hackers are busily targeting critical infrastructure inside the United States, including water treatment plants, the electrical grid and transportation systems.
The whole “Is hacking an act of war?” thing needs to be seriously reconsidered. Of course, if the US decided it was, they would be guilty of so many acts of war. And it’s not just the US. Everybody is trying to hack everybody and acting like killing people by bringing down a power grid is somehow different than killing people by dropping a bomb. The outcome is the same: You did something that intentionally killed people.
Of course saying that hacking is an act of war opens up a huge can of worms. Suddenly small time hackers are being charged with or framed for war crimes.
It’s a delicate issue, but I think it is worth revisiting.
You are correct. It would open a can of worms and many countries are comfortable keeping acts undefined. I watched a documentary called Zero Days and learned about how cyberwarfare worked in the past. I can imagine AI is going to take it to a new level. The documentary was called Zero Days, if anyone else is interested. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt5446858/
Actual diplomats, where the rubber meets the road, are not going to use the word war.
I don’t think it needs to be a complex issue at all. Cyber is just an extension of intelligence.
“Everybody hacks everybody” , yes, and also everybody spies on everybody. Merely spying is not an act of war.
Intelligence agencies backing coups in foreign countries? Yeah, now that’s an act of war.