Understanding Cyber Warfare: Politics, Policy and Strategy

by Christopher Whyte

This textbook offers an accessible introduction to the historical, technical, and strategic context of cyber conflict.

The international relations, policy, doctrine, strategy, and operational issues associated with computer network attack, computer network exploitation, and computer network defense are collectively referred to as cyber warfare. This new textbook provides students with a comprehensive perspective on the technical, strategic, and policy issues associated with cyber conflict as well as an introduction to key state and non-state actors.

Specifically, the book provides a comprehensive overview of these key issue areas:

the historical emergence and evolution of cyber warfare, including the basic characteristics and methods of computer network attack, exploitation, and defense;

a theoretical set of perspectives on conflict in the digital age from the point of view of international relations (IR) and the security studies field;

the current national perspectives, policies, doctrines, and strategies relevant to cyber warfare; and

an examination of key challenges in international law, norm development, and the potential impact of cyber warfare on future international conflicts.

This book will be of much interest to students of cyber conflict and other forms of digital warfare, security studies, strategic studies, defense policy, and, most broadly, international relations.

Genres: International Relations

306 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 7, 2018

Reviews

[K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has very, very little computer science experience, this was a useful introduction to the concept of cyberterrorism, warfare and the associated foundational knowledge required to understand it. There was never a point where it got too technical for me to parse the information and I appreciated the consistent examples of real world applicability of both techniques & policy choices. This is not anywhere near the direction I would like my career to go in, but it was a good challenge regardless.