Cyberattack as Covert Action
“Most of what we see in day-to-day cybersecurity is not cyberwar, or the perennial threat of the ‘digital Pearl Harbor.’ Crime, espionage, political vandalism, and military “long-range cyber-reconaissance”–rather than kinetic targeting that kills, damages, or disables–are more mundane, day-to-day concerns. National Defense University’s Samuel Liles does make a persuasive case that much of cyberwar exists mainly on the “low-intensity warfare” aspect of the general spectrum of conflict. I propose something of a middle category of operations that may clarify some of the murkier areas of state-sponsored cyberattack: covert action.”
