Abstract

Cyber warfare is challenging traditional paradigms about what constitutes a just war. It is an emerging phenomenon that needs to be addressed separately in order to create reasonable regulations on its use and proper responses to the same. Some of these challenges refer to first what might constitute an act of war as opposed to a case of criminal sabotage. Other difficulties concern issues of sovereignty, the right to remain neutral, and proportionate responses to attack. Several recent examples of cyber-attack are brought forth and analyzed within this framework. The paper proposes that the traditional just war paradigm needs to be expanded to account for the anomalies created by this new mechanism of warfare. This essay will raise some critical questions about this changing paradigm with intent to suggest alterations to the way we think about war that can include cyber warfare as part of the traditional just war paradigm.