Cyber Actions by State Actors: Motivation and Utility

摘要

Covert action is as old as political man. The subversive manipulation of others is nothing new. It has been written about since Sun Tzu and Kautilya. People and nations have always sought the use of shadowy means to influence situations and events. Covert action is and has been a staple of the state system. A dark and nefarious tool often banished to philosophical and intellectual exile, covert action is in truth an oft-used method of achieving utility that is frequently overlooked by academics. Modern scholars contend that, for utility to be achieved, activities such as war and diplomacy must be conducted transparently. Examined here is the construction of utility for a subset of covert action: cyber attacks. Cyber attacks, as a functional tool of state, have the ability to influence the space between overt diplomacy and overt war. They have been and are currently being used to influence what James D. Fear on refers to as the ex-ante bargaining range of states. The manipulation of the bargaining range between states to achieve a more favorable ex-ante settlement that averts the potential for overt war is not limited to cyber attacks, however. Cyber attacks are just one tool among many that has risen in prominence in recent years.