The term "no man's land" was popularized in World War I, describing the area of a battlefield between the trenches that was unoccupied, under siege, and under no specific nation's control.
One could currently describe the Internet that way as well.
Cyber attacks, espionage, and sabotage have been around as long as the Internet itself, but their recent severity and frequency have raised new issues and questions for scientists, computer programmers, military staff, and a myriad of other professionals in an emerging military front.
Dr. Randall Dipert, C.S. Peirce professor of American philosophy, is on the vanguard of those examining the military ethics of cybernetic warfare. With his research, he is sending the warning of the dire and dangerous consequences of leaving the cyber flank unchecked.
Dipert, who teaches at West Point Military Academy and SUNY Fredonia, has a level of conviction on the seriousness of cyberwarfare.
"When I initially became interested in this particular field, I was actually looking to debunk it," Dipert said. "Yet, the more and more I looked into it, the more I realized how grave this issue really was."
Dipert's work, some of which has been presented to the U.S. Senate's Armed Services Committee, explores in detail the costs of cyberwarfare, its outcomes on nation-states and their populations, and what could and should be done to regulate it.
His most recent essay, "The Ethics of Cyberwarfare," will appear in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Military Ethics this December.
Communication systems, financial networks, electrical power grids, and civilian infrastructures in medicine and manufacturing are all becoming targets as cyberwarfare transforms the Internet into an invisible battlefield.
While there are major concerns to be contemplated on the public level, the private sphere cannot be forgotten. Corporations, companies and individuals are subjected to cyberwarfare.
Dipert stresses the need to avoid the sensationalistic stereotype of "The Matrix" type of hacker, seen as a rebel or troublemaker. As he notes, nations are building cyber armies that are even organized into battalions and regiments, like any other military force.
According to Dipert, the technological resources available to some other nations give Dipert the most worry on the future of the cyber front.
There have been numerous cases of nation-states engaging in cyberwarfare, as there are no laws governing such behavior. Russia has carried out cyber attacks on Estonia and Georgia within the past year. There have also been suspected attacks upon U.S. interests by Iran, China and North Korea.
In reaction to such maneuvers the Pentagon set up its new Cyber Command, Cybercom, in May.
Plenty of students at UB understand the enormity and difficulty of trying to regulate the cyber world.
"One of the main problems is that when the Internet was being developed the need for security was not as great as it is now," said Philip Matuskiewicz, a graduate student in the computer science department. "Very few people were using it [in the beginning] so not many were concerned about security measures like encryption."
As Dipert notes, part of the problem stems from the obscurity of the area itself.
"There has been a strategy vacuum for some time," Dipert said. "As well, some of the problem extends from the secrecy of what's there. To stop enemies, it would be useful to have some sort of public policy to act as a deterrent."
While Dipert contends that there should be some policy or legislation on cyberwarfare, he also laments that applying such policy may be difficult, if not impossible.
"While there are some laws on cyber crime, and some pacts being proposed in Europe, I fear some global treatise may be difficult to implement, but eventually there will be some sort of equilibrium," Dipert said.
E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
