This past week it was revealed that the Chinese hacked into American government computer systems and stole sensitive information about 16.9 million military and intelligence employees applying for security clearances.
Is this an act of war or not?
We could tell an act of war in the old days. People were killed. Land was taken. Military force was used. If it walked like a duck, talked like a duck, and looked like a duck we could reasonably conclude it was a duck.
Russians have been hacking at computer systems for years. Mostly the hacks were on credit cards or bank accounts. They were after money. But, as Putin starts to salivate and try and re-establish the old Soviet Union, why wouldn’t he use every weapon at his disposal? Clearly the action in Ukraine is an act of war. They are asserting Russian dominance. When will the Russians feel safe to continue?
China would like to establish the old Chinese kingdom across Asia. They have had designs on this for awhile now. Dominance over all of Asia commercially and militarily is a clear goal of theirs. Recently they built artificial islands in the South China Sea to establish forward naval operating bases. This is of big concern to US companies that need freedom of the seas to transport goods back and forth.
North Korea attacked Sony when they found out about the movie parody of their leader. Again, a hack against a private corporation. But, if you remember your US history President Jefferson sent the US Navy and Marines to battle Islamic pirates that were capturing US commercial vessels and imprisoning their employees as slaves. Hence the words, “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli” in the Marine Corps anthem.
All military operations are heavily dependent on computers. Satellites and radar guided missiles. All branches of the service have tested Star Wars like technology to use robots and lasers to defeat the enemy. If I were going to go to war with someone, one of the first things I would do is disable their space capability. Command and control is key to winning. If you recall both Gulf Wars, the US disabled the Iraqi communication capability first.
When does a cyber attack cross the line as an act of war? This is a question for the next presidential campaign. I’d like to hear some answers.
UPDATE
The hack was done in December of 2014. Recall, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stored all of her sensitive data on an unsecured server at her home in New York.