US Decides That If There's No Real Cyberwar, It Might Just Escalate Hack Attacks Into A Real War

We've discussed quite a few times how consultants, lobbyists, contractors and government agencies who stand to benefit have been overhyping the threats associated with digital infrastructure by calling it a "cyberwar." The reality is that it's much more about espionage, vandalism and creating significant nuisances, rather than something on the level of a "war." Yet, with the White House's latest "cyberspace" strategy report, it warns that if certain attacks via the internet are seen as hostile, we might just bomb you in response:

“Certain hostile acts conducted through cyberspace could compel actions under the commitments we have with our military treaty partners,” says the document. “When warranted, the United States will respond to hostile acts in cyberspace as we would any other threat to our country.”

In other words, there might not have been a war when this all started, but by the end of it, the US government will make damn sure that there's a war going on in the traditional sense. Comforting.

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