Strategic Cyber Defense: Which Way Forward?
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Kenneth Geers
Cyber security has evolved from a technical discipline to a strategic, geopolitical concept. The question for national security thinkers today is not how to protect one or even a thousand computers, but millions, including the âcyberspaceâ around them. Strategic challenges require strategic solutions. This article considers four nation-state approaches to cyber attack mitigation: 1) Technology: Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6); 2) Doctrine: Sun Tzuâs Art of War; 3) Deterrence: can we prevent cyber attacks?; 4) Arms control: can we limit cyber weapons? These threat mitigation strategies fall into different categories. IPv6 is a technical solution. Art of War is military. The third and fourth strategies are hybrid: deterrence is a mix of military and political considerations, while arms control is a political/technical approach. Technology and doctrine are the most likely strategies to provide short-term improvement in a nationâs cyber defense posture. Deterrence and arms control, which are more subject to outside political influence and current events, may offer cyber attack mitigation but only in the longer-term.
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Research Article
- Use of Small-Scale Test Data to Enhance Fire-Related Threat, Vulnerability, Consequence and Risk Assessment for Passenger Rail Vehicles
- Strategic Cyber Defense: Which Way Forward?
- Effect of a Marketing Program on Freshman Student Registration for an Emergency Notification System
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- The Relationship between Turkey's Provinces' Development Levels and Social and Economic Vulnerability to Disasters
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- Cross-Sectoral Scanning of Critical Infrastructures: from Functional Differences to Policy-Relevant Similarities
- Identifying Communication Strategies in Cases of Domestic Terrorism: Applying Cultural Context to the Fort Hood Shooting
- The Evolving Role of the Public Information Officer: An Examination of Social Media in Emergency Management
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- Influencing Factors of Emergency Information Spreading in Online Social Networks: A Simulation Approach
- Responding in Crises: A Comparative Analysis of Disaster Responses between Mainland China and Taiwan
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