The Recent State Sanctioned Chinese Cyber Attacks Against...

In this paper I will take an in depth look at the recent state sanctioned Chinese cyber-attacks against United States organizations and agencies. These attacks have had profound effects, ultimately altering structures and processes. Government officials are calling for millions of dollars in training and defense measures, while many are now becoming aware of a new type of threat. The inter-organizational relationships, external environment, and ecosystem have also been denaturised. I will also take a look at scholarly definitions of war and how they may be applied to the issue at hand. Finally, I will examine the United Nation’s doctrine and deem whether these attacks should be considered aggressive acts made by China, and what may†¦show more content†¦We are a Nation on the fringe of another war. We have military personnel engaged in advise and assist roles in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, attacks occurring on our home soil, and cyber-warfare issues still un resolved. These issues are prevalent across various organizations, as seen in the weekly updates that I receive from the U.S. Naval Academy Information Technology department in which employee personal information was compromised, describing how our home network has been affected and security measures that have been implemented to protect us from further attack. The United States code and the United Nations charter provide a great framework for the determination of the cyber-attacks, with each organization implementing their own written doctrine and instructions. The U.S. code defines an â€Å"act of war† and the United Nations charter provides the foundation to determine what is deemed an â€Å"act of aggression† (U.N. Code, 1992, U.N Charter, 1945). While actively engaged in conflict, we are members of a very complex, unstable, and ever-changing environment. Scholars like Sun-Tzu and Clausewitz have both studied warfare extensively, and approach it from two very different angles. These approaches provide two main schools of thought when considering warfare and should be understood so that a place may be found for cyber-warfare. Sun Tzu’s (2013) main theme contends that weapons