US: Cyber Attacks Warrant Military Retaliation, Unless We Launch Them

John Glaser, September 24, 2012

Via Micah Zenko, the Washington Post last week reminded us of official US policy regarding cyber-warfare:

Cyberattacks can amount to armed attacks triggering the right of self-defense and are subject to international laws of war, the State Department’s top lawyer said Tuesday.

Spelling out the U.S. government’s position on the rules governing cyberwarfare, Harold Koh, the department’s legal adviser, said a cyber-operation that results in death, injury or significant destruction would probably be seen as a use of force in violation of international law.

Unless, of course, America is the one who is waging the cyber-warfare. Followed logically, the State Department’s legal view here would mean that when the US attempted to destroy Iran’s centrifuges with a cyber attack in the form of a virus called Stuxnet, Iran would have been within its legal rights to bomb the United States. But US legal views are not absolute; they depend on who wields power.



6 Responses to “US: Cyber Attacks Warrant Military Retaliation, Unless We Launch Them”

  1. US: Cyber Attacks Warrant Military Retaliation, Unless We Launch Them – Antiwar.com (blog) « Today In Scope
    September 25th, 2012 at 11:27 pm

    [...] US: Cyber Attacks Warrant Military Retaliation, Unless We Launch ThemAntiwar.com (blog)Cyberattacks can amount to armed attacks triggering the right of self-defense and are subject to international laws of war, the State Department's top lawyer said Tuesday. Spelling out the U.S. government's position on the rules governing cyberwarfare …and more » [...]

  2. Al_Dove
    September 26th, 2012 at 2:12 am

    Sorta like drone attacks.

  3. MoT
    September 26th, 2012 at 8:09 am

    Hypocrisy. Always for me and not for thee sayeth Uncle.

  4. White House Attack
    October 1st, 2012 at 9:43 am

    The White House recently released information about a cyber attack on the White House servers. Could this launch us into war?

  5. U Mad
    November 8th, 2012 at 5:15 pm

    Stuxnet was never confirmed. It's also a very vague policy on purpose. So if, someone were to start crashing planes or blowing up refineries, we'd have a course of action. You just sound menstrual.

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    May 25th, 2013 at 3:26 pm

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