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Strategic Vision vol. 9, no. 47 (September, 2020)
Digital Danger
Lack of public understanding hinders Taiwan’s defense against cyber threats Tobias Burgers, Hon-min Yau, & David J. Farber
photo: Taiwan Presiential Office
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The Republic of China (ROC) military band performs for the public on Double Ten Day in Taipei.
few decades ago, political warfare, propaganda operations, and actual covert military attacks below the threshold-of-war were conducted in many physical domains. The focus has now shifted to cyberspace. This is a logical progression: The cyber domain is not hindered by geographical boundaries and obstacles, and encompasses the ability to hide one’s physical location to avoid the consequences of attribution. This makes the cyber domain the ideal theater in which to conduct operations. Military targets still matter, yet increasingly, civilian facilities have now become acceptable targets for offensive cyber operations.
Cyber attacks remain an ambiguous concept. In 2010, when General Keith Alexander of the US military’s Cyber Command testified to Congress that “Every day, America’s armed forces face millions of cyber attacks,” he was actually combining everything from software probing and computer-address scanning to a simple “computer ping.” As Singer and Friedman pointed out in their 2014 book, Cyber security and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know, cyber attacks often bundle together a variety of activities, simply because they involve Internet-related technology. Hence, scholars like Thomas Rid have argued strongly that no past or current cyber at-
Dr. Tobias Burgers is a project assistant professor at the Cyber Civilization Research Center, Keio University. Dr. Yau, Hon-Min is an assistant professor at the Graduate Institute of Strategic Studies (GISS), National Defense University (Taiwan). Prof. David J. Farber is a distinguished professor at Keio University, and the co-director of the Cyber Civilization Research Center.