Jasmijn Boeken
Introduction
In an age where everything is becoming increasingly digital, so is war. Recently, at the same location where, over a decade ago, the first major cyberattack hit, another attack happened (Corera Citation2021). A power blackout at a nuclear enrichment plant received global attention. According to Iran, the attack was made by Israel, however, as is typical of cyberattacks, the attribution of the act remains ambiguous. The digital sphere has become a new domain of warfare, supplementing the traditional arenas of land, sea, air and space (Taddeo Citation2012). This new addition to warfare has prompted scholars to explore the ethical implications of cyberwar, using frameworks such as Just War Theory (Boylan Citation2013; Sleat Citation2018; Taddeo Citation2012).
As is well-known to readers of this journal, Just War Theory is concerned with the question of what is ethical in warfare (Fotion Citation2007). The traditional paradigm of just war has developed over many centuries and is today known not least for Michael Walzer’s contributions (with Walzer Citation1977 as the paradigm text; see also Boylan Citation2013). Applying it to the topic of cyberwar, scholars have found multiple issues to discuss, such as the identification of combatants and non-combatants (Taddeo Citation2012), the issue of attribution (Boylan Citation2013), non-human targets (Sleat Citation2018), and the fact that the “ground” in cyberspace is continuously increasing (Singer and Friedman Citation2014). The various scholars have also posed their possible solutions, such as changing the architecture of the internet (Boylan Citation2013), applying information ethics (Taddeo Citation2012), or adjusting Just War Theory to make it appropriate for the topic of cyberwar (Sleat Citation2018). There is, however, yet to be a widespread consensus on the definition of cyberwar and the ethical parameters guiding it.
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