Analysis & Opinions - Project Syndicate

Can Cyber Warfare Be Deterred?

| December 10, 2015

Fear of a "cyber Pearl Harbor" first appeared in the 1990s, and for the past two decades, policymakers have worried that hackers could blow up oil pipelines, contaminate the water supply, open floodgates and send airplanes on collision courses by hacking air traffic control systems. In 2012, then-US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned that hackers could "shut down the power grid across large parts of the country."

None of these catastrophic scenarios has occurred, but they certainly cannot be ruled out. At a more modest level, hackers were able to destroy a blast furnace at a German steel mill last year. So the security question is straightforward: Can such destructive actions be deterred?...

Continue reading: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/cyber-warfare-deterrence-by-joseph-s--nye-2015-12

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Nye, Joseph S..“Can Cyber Warfare Be Deterred?.” Project Syndicate, December 10, 2015.

The Author

Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

Joseph S. Nye

  • Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
  • Member of the Board, Belfer Center
  • Faculty Affiliate, Future of Diplomacy Project
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