There won't be a cyberwar?

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist/2013/09/cyberwar_and_cyberattacks_it_s_really_espionage_subversion_or_sabotage.html

While researching my CAJ topic I recently found an article saying that cyberwar has never existed and probably never will. I generally do not like arguments that try to prove that something will never happen, for the simple reason that we can never say for sure that it won’t.

Anyways, the author of this article reasons that we cannot call the ongoing conflicts in the cyberworld a cyberwar for several reasons. According to him there are three features that are needed for cyber conflict to be considered cyberwar. First of all, the computer breach would need to be violent and able to hurt or kill people. Otherwise, so the author suggests, the attacks could not be described as an act of war. He further mentions that the act of cyberwar would need to be instrumental and compel the other to do something they would generally not even consider doing. Lastly, he mentions that there has to be a political motivation behind those attacks.

If those features define a cyberwar, we have not yet experienced one. Up to now there has been, according to the author, no injured person as a consequence of a cyberattack and there has been no nation yet that has taken credit for a cyberattack. As it is possible to cause an electricity blackout or interrupt a city’s freshwater supply or even to attack industrial control systems though, a cyberwar is definitely possible. Up to now, this has luckily never happened.

The author further explains that cyberespionage, a quite usual activity of cyberattacks, as well as cybersubervsion, the act of using social media to undermine authority, is not and cannot be considered cyberwar. In general he even says that the concept of cyberwar is misleading, as it is not violent, as a real war should be. The last comment he makes on cyberwar is, that the armed forces need to stay focused on fighting and winning the real wars of the future.

Of course I understand the reasoning used in this article and if it all of the author’s facts are true; it is possible that we have yet to experience a real cyberwar. We know, however, that cyberwar could happen in our world that is so dependent on technology. I personally think that one day cyberwar will happen, as it is the perfect opportunity for countries with little power and a small population to fight their opponents.