History of International Law and Cyber Warfare

While seeming to look only as chaos, warfare and combat is governed by national and international laws set forth by international bodies. These laws came to be as the result of the event that occurred while in combat. The most famous set of international laws are the Geneva Convention. The convention seeks to be the foundation for all international laws in respect to the protection of the victims of armed conflicts (Pictet). The first Geneva Convention was held in 1864  as a result of the wounded soldiers being left in no man’s land during the 1859 Battle of Solferino. The wounded were left to suffer as neither side could attempt to rescue or aid their soldiers without becoming victims themselves. As a result, one of the soldiers who survived, Henry Dunant wrote about the experiences (Dunant) and sent his work to important figures within Europe. Eventually, Henry helped found the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863(Sperry). It was within this committee that countries were able to call upon the nations of europe for the first Geneva convention which took place in Geneva, Switzerland in August 1864. At the end of the convention, the countries that came signed the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (ICRC). This treaty only explicitly stated the following (Shaw):

1. the immunity from capture and destruction of all establishments for the treatment of wounded and sick soldiers,
2. the impartial reception and treatment of all combatants,
3. the protection of civilians providing aid to the wounded, and
4. the recognition of the Red Cross symbol as a means of identifying persons and equipment covered by the agreement.

The original treaty also consisted of ten
articles(ICRC) which have been been revised since they were first written. At
the end of the American Civil War in 1863 in which Abraham Lincoln signed the
Lieber Code stating the how soldiers conduct themselves in times of war.
Following the signing both of these treaties which stated the behaviour of
soldiers in warfare came the Hague Convention of 1899 and 1907. These were a
set of treaties set at peace conferences in the Hague that set forth the laws
of wars as well as what constituted war crimes under international law. The
laws that were signed into the treaty by all the major countries at the time
drew many of the articles from the American signed Lieber Code. This was done
as it was the first complete set of laws that encompassed the rules and
regulations for behaviour at times of war. It included articles on the
treatment of prisoners of war, truces, prisoner exchange, as well as the
protection of civilians and their property. It also set forth the appropriate
punishments for deserters. When the final treaty was signed in July 1899, the
Hague Convention of 1899 was comprised of 3 main treaties as well as 3
declarations(Hague Conventions).

The first treaty was the Convention for the Pacific
Settlement of International Disputes(Laws of War). This treaty allowed for the
arbitration between countries. This also meant that there needed to be an
official place where the arbitration would take place which lead to the
creation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. This treaty and count allowed
for member states to settle disputes relating to sovereignty, national and
maritime boundaries, human rights, etc(Dispute Resolution Services). The second
treaty was the Convention with respect to the Laws and Customs of War on
Land(Hague Convention). This outlined the treatment of Prisoners of War in
accompaniment with the laws set in the 1864 Geneva convention. It also forbid
the use of poisons, the killing of surrendered enemies, and looting of towns.
The final treaty was the Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of
the Principles of the Geneva Convention of 22 August 1864(Treaty Database).
This outlined the protection of marked hospital ships as well as requiring all
marked hospital ships to treat any wounded or shipwrecked sailors. In all the
treaties mentioned, all were signed by all parties at the Hague. The additional
declarations however, were not unanimously signed. The first declaration was
the Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Discharge of Projectiles and
Explosives from Balloons or by Other New Analogous Methods. This stated that
for five years from the when the treaties are entered into force, any war
containing the signing powered, cannot use balloons to launch projectiles or
explosives. The wording of the treaty also encompassed any new technology as it
referenced balloons or “by other new means of a similar nature”. In this
treaty, all the major parties signed except for the United States and the
United Kingdom. The second declaration was the Declaration concerning the
Prohibition of the Use of Projectiles with the Sole Object to Spread
Asphyxiating Poisonous Gases. This referred to banning the use of gas filled
shells which would release some form of poison gas such as chlorine gas upon
impact. This was signed by all the parties except for the United States(Treaty
Database). The final declaration was the Declaration concerning the Prohibition
of the Use of Bullets which can Easily Expand or Change their Form inside the
Human Body such as Bullets with a Hard Covering which does not Completely Cover
the Core, or containing Indentations. This stated that any of the countries
that signed will refrain from using ammunition that expand or flatten easily in
the human body. This was signed by all the parties except for the United
States(Treaty Database). Once all the treaties were signed and ratified, they
became into force on September 4th, 1900.

The second Hague Convention took place in 1907. It’s
purpose was to expand upon the previous convention but also allow for any
changes to account for technological advances. Specifically, the convention was
to focus on naval warfare as Britain and Germany were in an arms race to build
the most powerful navy. The convention consisted on 13 treaties, of which only
12 were brought into force. There was also a single declaration. The first was
the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes which was
an expansion of the first treaty from the 1899 convention. The second was the
Convention respecting the Limitation of the Employment of Force for Recovery of
Contract Debts which stated that countries would not use military force to
collect on debts. The third was the Convention relative to the Opening of
Hostilities which defined the acceptable process which a country or state would
follow when making a declaration of war. The fourth was the Convention
respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land which contained a few minor
changes from the previous 1899 convention. The fifth convention was the
Convention relative to the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in
case of War on Land which defined the rights of neutral powers or people in the
event of war.

As was the main purpose of this convention, the next
seven conventions were directly related to naval and maritime combat. The
Convention relative to the Legal Position of Enemy Merchant Ships at the Start
of Hostilities stated that all merchant ships that belong to the instigating
nation arriving at a port of the enemy at the beginning of a conflict shall be
allowed to leave the port immediately or within a few days grace to move freely
to another port. It also applies to ships that that has left its last port
before the official commencement of the war as they are ignorant to the
conflict at hand. The seventh treaty is the Convention relative to the Legal
Position of Enemy Merchant Ships at the Start of Hostilities which states that
merchant ships that are converted to become warships cannot have the same
rights and duties as merchant ships unless they are directly under the
authority, control and/or responsibility of the flying flags power. The eighth
treaty is the Convention relative to the Laying of Automatic Submarine Contact
Mines which encompasses the laws relating to setting ocean mines. It states
that the use of unanchored mines is illegal along with the setting of mines
along the port of an enemy where the only intent is to intercept commerical
shipping. The ninth treaty was the Convention concerning Bombardment by Naval
Forces in Time of War which banned the destruction of defenceless cities,
towns, ports, or villages. However, if there is any form of military
construction within, naval officers are permitted to destroy them and they
would not be responsible for any collateral damage.  The tenth treaty was the Convention for the
Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva Convention of
1906 which made updates to the third treaty of the 1899 Hague Convention as per
the amendments that had been implemented in the 1864 Geneva convention. The
eleventh treaty was the Convention relative to Certain Restrictions with regard
to the Exercise of the Right of Capture in Naval War which made the mail of any
party found at sea aboard an enemy or neutral ship prohibited from form of
alternation. It also states that in the event of a capture, the mail must be delivered
to the receiving party with the least delay possible. The twelfth treaty was
the Convention relative to the Establishment of an International Prize Court
which was intended to aid in the resolution of conflicts stemming from the
capture of ships during times of war. This treaty was never ratified by any
major party and did not become into force. The final treaty was the Convention
concerning the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval War which forbade
any aggressing party from violating the sovereignty of any neutral party by any
means. The only declaration in the 1907 Hague Convention was the Declaration
Prohibiting the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosives from Balloons. This was
only to extend the provisions set in 1899 until the third Peace Conference
however it never took place.

As the world stepped into the first world war in 1914,
the conventions agreed upon by all parties became ignored. In January of 1915,
Germany became the first to violate Declaration Two of the 1899 Hague convention
and Convention four of 1907 Hague convention when they used shells filled with
xylyl bromide gas at the Russians in the Battle of Bolimov(Heller). By the end
of the war, all parties involved would break the conventions forbidding the use
of chemical or poison weapons. Moreover, Convention three would be broken by
Germany when they invaded Belgium when they were declared themselves as
neutral. The breaking of international law had no direct consequence on any
parties however since Germany has lost, the 1919 Paris Peace Conference held
Germany responsible for the war. In June of 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was
signed by the allied nations and Germany. The treaty consisted of may points
including monetary reparations and territorial concessions. The value Germany
was to pay was assessed to be 132 billion German marks which was to go to
specific Allied countries. The Treaty also forced Germany to disarm itself by
reducing its armed forces and imposing sanctions on the nation.

As the world was reeling from the global conflict of
World War 1, countries knew who had stronger armaments. To not seem weak and to
protect themselves from another possible war, countries were looking to grow
their forces; specifically their naval fleets. This would have turned into a
full fledge arms race had it not been for the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. In
the treaty, the winning nations of the First World War agreed to limit their
construction of their naval fleets as to limit and prevent an arms race. The
treaty limited the construction of new ships and submarines by weight. All
ships were limited to 10,000 tons. This treaty was only limiting the size of
ships but not the quantity. It was minor loophole that the countries were able
to exploit to continue their fleet building. As a result of this loophole,
there was an arms race but it was scaled down.

As the world has seen the use of poison and gases used
on the battlefields of the First World War even though all parties involved and
signed two separate treaties that outlaws the use of chemical agents. Because
of this, the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating,
Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare (or Geneva
Protocol) was drafted in Geneva. The protocol stated that the “use of
asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and all analogous liquids, materials or
devices being prohibited, their manufacture and importation are strictly
forbidden in Germany”(ICRC). The language in this treaty was much more
specific and encompassed nearly all forms of chemical weapons. The treaty also
covered “bacteriological methods of warfare”(ICRC). In spite of many nations
signing the treaty, there were still signatory nations that violated the treaty
and used weapons. Japan had used mustard gas against Taiwan in Musha
Incident(Criddy).

In 1928, as a response to the escalating global
tensions, The Kellogg-Briand Pact (or Pact of Paris) was signed by world
leaders(Kellogg-Briand Pact). This treaty stated that the signing parties would
not use war to solve any disputes or issues regardless of what they are about
or who may be involved. It promoted the use of peace talks to settle disputes
rather than calling for war among nations. This pact would later become the
foundation for the international courts that would try war criminals on an
international level. The 1929 Geneva Convention saw two additional treaties
signed into international law. The first was the Convention relative to the
Treatment of Prisoners of War. This superseded all previous treaties regarding
the treatment of POWs in times of combat. It consisted of a total of 97
articles. The articles covered what can and cannot be done by the prisoners or
to the prisoners, what is to be provided to the prisoners, and how and when to
release prisoners. Building off the first three articles of the 1907 Hague
convention, this treaty became much more explicit on the treatment and
eliminated large portions of gray area. In the same year, the Geneva Convention
for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the
Field. This Convention superseded the 1906 and 1864 Conventions and was
designed to cover areas that were found to be incomprehensive through the First
World War. The updated treaty added that aircraft on medical missions were to
be given similar protection as hospital ships. Many of the treaties signed
remain enforced today with some being superseded by updated versions. It was
only after the Second World War that the world saw the consequences of breaking
international law.

Modern International Law (1945 – Present)

Following the Second World War, the League of Nations
was replaced by the United Nations. The United Nations Charter was signed in
1945 and it became the basis of all future policies and treaties created by the
UN. The charter bound all the nations who signed to act in accordance to its
treaties and it was stipulated that treaty obligations become superseded by
obligations to the UN. The charter consisted of 2 main parts; the preamble and
the articles. The preamble acts as an introduction as it calls for peace and
overall global security as well as a declaration that the signatory nations
agree to the charter. The second part is divided into chapters where each
chapter covers a subject matter such as sanctions and the use of military
force. The following year in 1946, the Nuremberg Trials took place to try and
convict members of the Nazi Party of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The trials were held by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. Prior
to the trials, the Allies examined the events of the Second World War and
determined that the crimes committed by the Nazis fell into four categories:

1. Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of a crime against peace
2. Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace
3. War crimes
4. Crimes against humanity

The trail saw that 24 of the highest Nazi officials be
tried and amongst those 3 were acquitted, 2 were not charged for various reason
and the remaining were found guilty of their crimes and sentenced to prison or
death. All those sentenced to death were hung. Following the Nuremberg Trials,
a similar trial took place in the East where the Japanese would be brought to a
similar tribunal style court. Just as the Nuremberg Trials, the accused crimes
were divided into 3 categories. Class A was for those who were involved in the
joint conspiracy to start and wage war. Class B was for war crimes and Class C
was for crimes against humanity(Libguides). 
Just as before, most of the accused were found guilty of their crimes
and sentenced to prison or death. As a direct result of the crimes committed in
the Second World War and the trials after, the International Criminal Court was
created in order to try those convicted of international crimes of genocide,
humanity and war crimes. The court is located in the The Hague, Netherlands.

Following the trials, the Geneva conventions began in
order to fill in the gaps that become exposed during the Second World War.
There were a total of 4 conventions that were signed into law in 1949. The
first was the “Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed
Forces in the Field” which covered the treatment of the wounded and sick. The
second was the “Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked
Members of Armed Forces at Sea”. The third was the related to the treatment of
POWs and the fourth was for the protection of civilians in times of war. These
4 conventions were based on previous conventions mentioned earlier, with minor
modifications to reflect the lessons learned from the Second World War. In
1954, The Hague Convention reconvened with the  Convention for the Protection of Cultural
Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. This convention was to focus on
protecting cultural property in an armed conflict. This was in response to the
mass looting and destruction of art in the Second World War. As we move forward
into history into present day, there were many more conventions signed and
introduced into international law. This was to account for the development of
technology in order to prevent another conflict that could surpass the death
toll of both World Wars combined. Some of the conventions relating to the use
of landmines, incendiary weapons, lasers and nuclear weapons. The latest
convention was in relation to the use of Cluster Munitions which was proposed
in 2008 but was entered into force in 2010.

International Cyber Law

With technology advancing at its current rate, it
would be improbable to think that the laws would be in sync with the advances.
Many countries lag behind when updating their laws to account for cyber
activities. Cyber attacks can categorized into 5 main categories; Intrusion,
content, copyright, fraud and combination. Within these categories exists
different types of crimes. The most common is “hacking” which would fall under
the Intrusion category. Content attacks refer more to the content of the data
and its legality. Crimes that would be classified under content would be the
distribution of child pornography. Copyright crimes are what the name
encompasses such as distributing software, movies or music. Fraud would cover
crimes such forgery and internet bank fraud. Combination attacks refer to using
more than one medium to execute the attack. This would cover more broad attacks
such as laundering and terrorism. Unlike traditional combat which had laws
covering the many different aspects of what occurs in a warzone, cyber has not
yet reached that point. As a response to the delays within the international
community, many smaller groups and organizations have come with their own
responses and mandates. For instance, the Council of Europe have put forth a
proposal that would create the world’s first convention for cyber crimes.
Similarly, other smaller groups such as APEC and OPEC have proposed similar
ideas. In 2001, the first and only international treaty about cybercrime was
brought forth. The Convention on Cybercrime was looking to address cyber crime
by uniting laws and increasing international cooperation(Council of Europe).
The convention also sought to create procedures on the search of computer
networks and the interception of data from networks. This also allows for
making racist comments or the promotion of xenophobic propaganda through the
use of computer networks a criminal and prosecutable offence. Beyond the few
notes mentioned here, there are not any other agreed upon international treaty
or laws relating to cyber crimes or cyber in general. The laws appear to only
be at the national level however these laws only seem to reflect minor changes
to account for the cyber update to that crime.

Analysis of Laws

To compare current laws surrounding combat to the laws
surrounding cyber warfare and cyber in general would be unfair as there is not
equal standing nor is there anything that would fit perfectly in both
categories. This could be for a variety of reasons. The one that stands out the
most is that many of the laws that now govern combat were the direct result of
the many conflicts that have occurred. We have seen the use of chemical and
biological weapons used on the battlefield as well as nuclear bombs decimate
cities in one run. We watched as the Nazis committed mass genocide against the
Jewish populous and the genocides continue from Armenians to the Tutsi of
Rwanda. The treaties that were signed by nations and ratified by their
respective parliaments as they had seen the direct result of what can occur
when there is nothing to prohibit those actions. It is because we have seen the
direct consequence of our inactions that we have come up with these laws to
govern what we can and cannot do while in combat. This cannot be said with
cyberwarfare and cybercrime. We have yet to fight a global conflict on the
cyber battlefield. We cannot fathom what can occur therefore we cannot outlaw
what we do not know.  Another reason that
there are no cyber laws is that there is not feasible method of enforcing a
treaty. For example, nuclear inspectors are able to inspect the weapon silos of
the signatory nations. This is because the weapon is stored in that one silo.
This cannot be said for cyber as it is not a physical item. It exists in
cyberspace, which is accessible by everyone with an internet connection.
Colonel Gary D Brown says that laws of war are “really dependant on thinking of
things kinetically in the physical realm.” What this means is that the laws
that are currently enforced about war came from what was seen in prior
engagements and battles. Furthermore, to understand the damage behind an
attack, you need to be able to see the damage that has occurred. Physically,
that is a simple task, we can see that the bombing campaigns of the second
world war leveled cities and towns, destroying monuments. In cyber, to what
extent does something have to go to be considered a “glitch” to an attack.
Major General Amos Yadlin of the Israeli Defense Intelligence believes that we
“need to take all the vocabulary and terms used in strategy and military
operation and adapt them into the cyber realm”

To be able to match our current laws on war, we need
to be able to see what may happen and prepare for the worst. More importantly,
there needs to be some discussion on what has occurred and who has done what.
Ignoring the obvious and denying any involvement would be the naive approach
that would be detrimental to developing safe practices in cyber warfare.
Moreover, there needs to be global consensus on what would appropriate
behaviours and what would be prohibited. Just as there was provisions in the
Geneva Convention that banned the destruction of unprotected cities; there
needs to be provisions that declare certain necessities such as heating and
potable water off limits in cyberwarfare. By finding the middle ground and
addressing the issues directly before, we can learn from the mistakes of our
past and potentially avoid the loss of millions of lives simply by making these
rules before we ever get in the situation where we need them.  

Timeline

1917 During
World War I, The Cipher Bureau and Military Intelligence Branch of the U.S.
Army was established. Their function was to provide codes for U.S.
communications in WWI and attempt to decode enemy signals. On May 19th 1919,
the Chief of the U.S Department of State approved creation of a Cipher Bureau,
dubbed Black Chamber (Pre-1952 Historical
Timeline).

1918 German engineer Arthur Scherbius
introduced the commercial version of the Enigma cipher machine, it’s purpose is
to encode and decode messages. This early model went under multiple revisions
which would increase its cryptographic capabilities.

1926 Military version of the Enigma was
deployed into service. This improved edition of the commercial model had an
increased number of rotors allowing for more combinations. This version would
be revised once, Enigma G, before being adopted by the German army.

1930 The German Army introduced their
own version of the Enigma machine, known as the Enigma I. The major difference
between this exclusive model and the commercial ones was the introduction of a
switchboard, which greatly increased the cryptographic capability of the
Enigma. This version was widely used by German military forces and government
up to and during World War II.

1939 In response to the German Enigma
machine, the British government approved funding for the development of a
machine to decipher their secure communications. The Bombe was designed at
Bletchley Park, UK, by a team led by Alan Turing. After some development the
Bombe was capable of decrypting the Enigma machine cipher. This allowed the
Allied forces to decipher German communication, disrupt German forces, and
eventually defeat the Nazi Reign.

1943
The British codebreaker project, at
Bletchley Park, builds Colossus. A large electronic computer that relies upon
vacuum tubes for calculations, used for cryptographic purposes. Later models of
the same design remain in use until the 1970s (Springer).

1944 Howard
Aiken, working for International Business Machines (IBM) at the time, presented
his design for the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC). It was
developed by IBM and developed at Harvard University, where it was referred to
as the Mark I. It was a general purpose electromechanical computer that could
be programmed through paper tapes and relied on vacuum tubes for computing
calculations.

1945 The
Manhattan Project is completed followed by the first atomic bomb test in
history. Two versions (Fat Man and Little Boy) are shortly used in the
destruction of the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

1946 The
Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator (ENIAC) is developed for the
U.S. Army’s Ballistics Research Laboratory. This general purpose electronic
computer was used to calculate ballistic trajectories, then later to solve
complex mathematical equations.

1947 John
Bardeen, William B. Shockley, and Walter Brattain working in conjuction at Bell
Laboratories to build the first transistor, which sparks revolution for
microelectronics. This advancement allowed for smaller, cheaper, faster, and
higher quality computers.

1948 The
RAND (Research And Development) Corporation was created, implicating a direct
partnership between the U.S. Air Force and the Douglas Aircraft Company.

1949 The
Soviet Union tests their first atomic bomb, which would not have been completed
without stolen information that was used in the joint British and U.S.
Manhattan Project.

The Armed Forces Security Agency was
created, intended to combine all U.S. military intelligence agencies together
into a single entity.

Maurice Wilkes from the University of
Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory develops the Electronic Delay Storage
Automatic Calculator (EDSAC).This is the world’s first stored program computer.

1950 The
Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC) is built, using magnetic tape for data
storage as opposed to punched cards. It is the first truly commercial digital
computer, the first model being delivered to the U.S. Census Bureau.

1952 The
National Security Agency (NSA) was appointed to oversee all U.S. government
signal intelligence collection efforts, including signal counterintelligence
activities.

1957 The
Soviet Union launches the world’s first artificial satellite into orbit, Sputnik.

1958 The
U.S. government forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), later
renamed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). an organization
dedicated to preventing strategic surprise through technological development.

American electrical engineer, Jack Kilby,
invented the integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments. It was the
first great leap forward in 10 years for microelectronics, since the completion
of the transistor by Bell Laboratories back in in 1947.

Another American electrical engineer,
Seymour Cray, working for Control Data Corporation finishes the first
supercomputer. This machine pushed the limits of processing speed for any given
technology at the time. Cray’s early model, which relied on transistors, will
soon become obsolete to integrated circuit machines.

1968 Intel
Corporation was founded by Gordon Moore in Santa Clara, California (Silicon
Valley). They quickly become the world’s leading producer of microprocessors.

1969 ARPANet
was established, which allowed a select number of government and academic
facilities to interconnect their computer networks, thus enabling distribution
of information.

1971 Intel
released the first commercial microprocessor, a single chip four-bit CPU.

1972 The
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) system was designed.
This provided a precise model for data format, address, transmission, route,
and reception by computers on a network.

1975 The
Church Committee hearings in the U.S. Senate revealed that the NSA conducted
illegal domestic surveillance, specifically against opposition of the Vietnam
War.4

1976 Steven
P. Jobs and Stephen Wozniak founded Apple Computer Corporation, designing  consumer personal computers designed for ease
of use.

1978 The
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was passed, thus limiting the power of
federal intelligence agencies to engage in domestic surveillance without the
approval of the court.

1981 IBM
announces the development of a home personal computer, which would be available
for consumers. This was the first time computers would be available for the
general public.

1982 A
pipeline in Siberia, built using information stolen by KGB spies, explodes
because of weakness purposely planted in the blueprints. The flaw was
intentionally created to sabotage Soviet agents.

1983 MILNet,
a dedicated network for the U.S. military, was split from ARPANet.
Coincidently, this was the same year the movie War Games was released, where a hacker almost starts a nuclear war
by compromising a Department of Defense (DoD) system.

1984
Congress passed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It criminalized misuse of
government computers. In 1996 it was expanded to include unauthorized use of
any computer system.

Apple released its first Macintosh
desktop computer available for the consumer to purchase, thus creating feasible
competition for IBM computers.

1988 Developed
by Massachusetts Institute of Technology student, Robert Morris, the Morris
Worm was released from the MIT laboratory. It spread to UNIX systems connected
to the Internet, and once infecting a machine it would self-replicated until
the machine slowed to a halt. It revealed the lack of protection for such
vulnerabilities.

Donald Gene Burleson was the first
American citizen convicted for harmful access of a computer. Burleson wrote
malicious code (logic bomb) destroying his former employer’s payroll data.

The Computer Emergency Response Team
(CERT) formed by DARPA at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania as a response to the results of the Morris Worm.

1989 Tim
Berners-Lee, British computer scientist, proposed the creation of the World
Wide Web. This was a system of linked hypertext documents accessed via the
Internet.

1993 Mosaic
internet browser released. This made the internet accessible to home users

1994 The Air Force Rome Laboratories is hacked by Kuji and Datastream Cowboy.
Kuji was a 22-year-old Israeli hacker. He was not prosecuted because his
actions did not violate Israeli law. Datastream Cowboy was a 16-year-old
British student who was charged with cyber crime. He pled guilty to the charges
and received a fine.

1995  The Java programming language is
released.

Amazon and Ebay are created. They later
become the two largest online shopping places.

1997 The first infowar exercise is conducted by the US Department of
Defence. It consisted of a “Red Team” whose job was to expose vulnerabilities.
This exercise showed that the Red Team was able to access key systems using
common, readily available technology.

1998
The U.S. federal budget includes
$1.14 billion for critical infrastructure cyber security.

The company Google becomes incorporated
by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they are PhD students at Stanford
University.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN) is founded. Its purpose is to serve as a main
database in order to assign domain names for places on the internet.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) is passed. It is an attempt to prevent piracy of digital media.

1999
Serbian hackers attack NATO servers.
This disrupts NATO operations in Kosovo.

Unrestricted Warfare is released. It is a
book of strategies that can be used to defeat the US. It covers a series of
attacks such as cyber attacks.

2000
The I-LOVE-YOU virus spreads causing
$10 billion in damages.

IBM releases its estimates on the cost of
DDOS attacks. It states that online retailers can lose $10,000 per minute.

2001
An exploit in Microsoft’s Internet
Information Server software allows for websites to be to be compromised for
theft or destruction of data. This becomes known as the Code Red worm.

The European Convention on Cybercrime is
passed

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security
is established.

2002 NATO begins its Network Enabled Capabilities
Transformation. It begins to adopt a network-centric warfare concept.

The Homeland Security Act is passed. This
creates a cabinet-level department who are tasked to defend the nation,
including its cyber infrastructure.

2003
The Titan Rain attacks steal 20TB of
data from US government computers.

The SQL Slammer worm is released and it
takes down the internet for 10 hours.

2007
Israel bombs a Syrian nuclear
facility while using a cyber attack to take down Syrian radar systems

Estonia moves a statue of a Soviet
soldier. This creates tension in the area and trigger what is now known the
Estonia Cyber Attack where Russian hackers attack the nation’s cyber
infrastructure.

The NSA commences PRISM, which is used to
collect data on a mass scale.

The U.S. Air Force Cyber Command is
created.

The NSA begin to infiltrate the networks
of Huawei

2008 The
U.S. military bans the use of flash drives as the rate of worm and virus
infections increase

2010  The Stuxnet virus is discovered and reported.

2012 A spear phishing attack targets the US gas pipeline
servers.

Iranian hackers launch DDOS attacks on Western
Financial corporations.

2013 Edward
Snowden releases the extent of the NSA surveillance program.

North Korea releases targeted malware
to attack South Korea media

The .cn domain is taken offline with
a DDOS attack

Israel foils a Syrian cyber attack
that would have disrupted water to the city of Haifa

2014 The US
indites five members of the Chinese PLA Unit 61398 for cyber espionage, cyber
sabotage, and other computer crimes against private American corporations.

Hamas and Israel war in Gaza through
the use of cyber attacks on their respective websites.

2015 The Adult
cheating website Ashley Madison is hacked and its database leaked online.

T Mobile credit card company
breached, releasing SSN, names, address and birth dates

2016 Ukraine’s
powergrid is hacked and its SCADA systems exploited to take out power

The US DNC (Democratic National Committee) is hacked

2017 Petya
Ransomware spreads worldwide, taking thousands of devices for ransom

Conclusion

Every aspect of our lives involve computer or internet
connected devices in some form. It may not be common knowledge but down to the
smallest detail, there is some device there that has been networked to allow
for easy administration. As the technology world grows and develops more things
that fit under the Internet of Things ideology, the more connected we are going
to become. This does not happen without any consequence, there will still be
conflicts and disputes between countries as the geopolitical climate of the
world changes drastically. As countries become more technologically advanced,
they too would make the transition towards cyber warfare as many already have.
This advancement would also make them more technologically dependent. This
paper highlighted the reasoning why a nation would move towards using cyber
warfare. It has become too expensive in terms of dollar values and in terms of
the human cost to fight wars with traditional combat. It has also highlighted
the major cyber attacks that have taken place and what precedent they have set.
The attacks saw that nothing was “off the table” and that anything and
everything can be exploited in a cyber attack. To add to the woes, the analysis
of international laws show no laws referring to cyber crimes. This means that
unlike regular combat, where there are laws regarding what can and cannot be
done, cyberwarfare can attack anything with no reprimands from the
international community. There is also no international body looking to create
cyber laws as there is the Geneva Convention for traditional combat. With all
this at hand, it would be crucial for countries to bolster their cyber presence
and capabilities in order to maintain any form of superiority on the global
stage. All this can come to a head in the form of yet another global conflict,
but it is a mystery on what will be used. Albert Einstein said in an interview
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV
will be fought with sticks and stones.”