Cyber security and cyber conflict

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Hostile action carried out through computer networks — attacks on data, systems and infrastructure — by states and non-state actors, often below the threshold of open war.

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A deliberate attempt to damage, disrupt or gain unauthorised access to computer systems and data.

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The use of cyber attacks by states as a form of conflict, e.g. to disable an enemy's infrastructure or military systems.

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The difficulty of proving with certainty who was really behind a cyber attack, because attackers hide their origin and use deniable proxies.

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Attackers route through servers in other countries, disguise their tools, mimic others' methods, and use criminal gangs or hacktivists as deniable proxies.

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Because you cannot deter or punish an attacker you cannot name — it weakens deterrence, makes retaliation risky (wrong target), and undermines accountability.

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Attacks cause serious harm but fall below the threshold of open war, with no declarations, borders or uniforms — a constant, ambiguous 'grey zone'.

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Criminal gangs (ransomware), hacktivists, and groups acting for or alongside states as deniable proxies.

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That it is genuinely new — borderless, instant, deniable serious harm that blurs war and peace and removes normal deterrence, making it distinctively destabilising.

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That states have always spied, sabotaged and coerced, so cyber is simply another instrument of the same rivalry — new domain, familiar logic.

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A layered mix — defence and resilience of critical systems, deterrence, international norms on off-limits targets, better attribution, and cooperation against cyber crime.