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15 - Cybersecurity and Cyberwar

from Part III - A Wider and Deeper Security Agenda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2025

Michael John Williams
Affiliation:
Syracuse University, New York
James Wesley Hutto
Affiliation:
School of Advanced Air and Space Studies
Asli Peker Dogra
Affiliation:
New York University
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Summary

Cybersecurity and cyberwar writ large are interconnected subjects that create serious challenges for policy makers. On an individual level we are far more likely to be the victims of cybercrime than of cyberwar. But the cyber challenge spans the entire gamut of security. From state-authorized attacks against another state, such as the deployment of Stuxnet against Iran, to the targeting of private industry like North Korea’s assault on Sony Pictures Entertainment, down through to the proliferation of cybercrime that impacts the everyday security of citizens sent a phishing scam via email, any way you cut it the cybersphere has a big impact on security. Indeed, if you live in a Western democracy, the chances are that you have also been at the individual level, as well as the societal level, at best an unwilling participant and at worse a victim of cyberwar via social media.

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Type
Chapter
Information
Understanding International Security
Theory and Practice
, pp. 303 - 317
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Primary Sources

Borghard, Erica D. and Lonergan, Shawn W. (2017) “The logic of coercion in cyberspace,” Security Studies, 26 (3), pp. 452–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, Benjamin, Valeriano, Brandon, and Whitt, Sam (2024) “How cyber operations can reduce escalation pressures: Evidence from an experimental wargame study,” Journal of Peace Research, 61, pp. 119–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rid, Thomas (2012) “Cyber war will not take place,” Journal of Strategic Studies, 35 (1), pp. 5–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Secondary Sources

Arquilla, John (2021) Bitskrieg: The new challenge of cyberwarfare. Polity.Google Scholar
Lin, Herbet and Zegart, Amy (2019) Bytes, bombs and spies: The strategic dimensions of offensive military operations. Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Singer, P. W. and Brooking, Emerson T. (2018) Likewar: The weaponization of social media. Mifflin Harcourt.Google Scholar

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