"The administration, fellow lawmakers, and general public must understand the potentially catastrophic consequences of a digital cyber conflict escalating into a kinetic, conventional shooting war."
The international community needs to come to a consensus on what kinds of digital attacks constitute war rather than intelligence gathering operations. There are well understood limits to what the CIA and GRU can do without provoking too much outrage if caught.
Note that Obama's announced retaliation focused on new sanctions on Russia's intelligence agencies and expelling a few diplomats from the country. "Reports have indicated that White House officials are also trying to avoid escalating the conflict." The issue with a widespread digital war would be the entire Internet as collateral damage for a few days. We are indeed wise to not escalate matters.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 44.2 ms ] threadThis could get ugly.
The international community needs to come to a consensus on what kinds of digital attacks constitute war rather than intelligence gathering operations. There are well understood limits to what the CIA and GRU can do without provoking too much outrage if caught.
Note that Obama's announced retaliation focused on new sanctions on Russia's intelligence agencies and expelling a few diplomats from the country. "Reports have indicated that White House officials are also trying to avoid escalating the conflict." The issue with a widespread digital war would be the entire Internet as collateral damage for a few days. We are indeed wise to not escalate matters.