"Confusion in the wake of the Sony hack"

Commentary by Amb. (Ret'd) Paul Meyer
Senior Fellow, The Simons Foundation
Published by Canadian International Council's OPENCANADA.ORG, Canada's Hub for International Affairs
December 31, 2014

Response to recent attack shows work needed for more international norms on states’ cyber policies.

"The official confusion apparent in Washington in the wake of the cyber attack on Sony would be bemusing if it wasn’t for the fact that the most powerful country in the world is stating ominously that it will be retaliating “in a place and time and manner that we choose.” Having pronounced unreservedly on North Korea’s culpability the White House has had difficulty in characterizing the nature of the act for which it is holding Pyongyang responsible.

White House spokespeople have said the attack constituted a “serious national security matter” and the terms “criminal act” and “cyber terrorism” have also been bandied about. President Obama in his December 19 press conference appeared to treat it as a hostile act against the United States to which his administration would respond “proportionally” (a key term drawn from the laws of armed conflict) and noted that his national security team was preparing a range of options for his consideration. The next day he seemed to step back from this framing of the offense, saying that it was not an act of war, but rather a case of costly “cyber vandalism.” Given that, according to media reports, amongst the options being generated for the President are offensive measures against North Korea undertaken by U.S. Cyber Command, this begs the question of whether an act of vandalism warrants a military response?...Continue reading at OPENCANADA.ORG.

Amb. (Ret'd) Paul Meyer is a Fellow in International Security, Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, and Senior Fellow, The Simons Foundation.