[LINK] Cyberwar: Hypothetical Scenario for Teaching ICT Ethics

[Tom Worthington]

On 25/02/16 09:55, Roger Clarke wrote:

> Presumbly you want 'softer' alternatives to emerge, rather than lead
> them by the nose?

The class includes undergraduates with limited experience, so some 
"scaffolding" is needed.

With the new Australian 2016 Defence White Paper, proposing 800 new jobs 
in intelligence, space and cyber security, I might have a few more 
students: 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2016/02/cyberwar-preparations-in-australian.html ;-)

> My lay understanding is that Stuxnet was intended to (and maybe
> actually did) cause the centrifuges to go out of control, resulting
> in physical damage ...

Yes, that is what it says in the literature, but the extent of the 
damage is unclear.

> In that context, you can see the rationale for physical damage ...

The USA has a policy of reciprocity for cyber attacks, not
necessarily using cyber-weapons. So if you attack the US with a
cyber weapon and cause physical harm, they might drop a bomb on you:

"When warranted, the United States will respond to hostile acts in 
cyberspace as we would to any other threat to our country. We reserve 
the right to use all necessary means – diplomatic, informational,
military, and economic – as appropriate and consistent with applicable 
international law, in order to defend our Nation, our allies, our 
partners, and our interests." White House. 2011: 
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/International_Strategy_Cyberspace_Factsheet.pdf

> In the scenario you're running, the purpose is 'diplomatic' ...

Yes, that is what the military are for: to achieve political outcomes.
In this scenario, the aim is to respond in a way which avoids 
causalities. In effect this is the reverse of the US policy: respond to 
a conventional attack with a cyber-attack.

> Another angle is the ethics of disclosing to a possible future enemy
> the country's capability ...

That approach was considered with the atom bomb in WWII. But it was not 
possible to be sure the opposing force could be convinced the new
weapon would be effective, without actually using it.

But these issues are far beyond what I want the class to consider. I 
will be happy if they think about: "Is it ethical to be involved in 
planning such an attack?"


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Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
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Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science, College of
Engineering & Computer Science, Australian National University
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