Book review : Cyber conflicts and small states

Abstract

Cyber conflicts and small states offers a compelling account of the various technological, institutional, regulatory, and normative factors influencing the cyber security of small states in the 21st century. With cyber infrastructure as the focal point of analysis, the authors explore how both technological dependence on larger states and a lack of effective civilian-military cooperation and planning can be detrimental to cyber resilience. They conclude with numerous policy and practical recommendations to tackle the issues highlighted throughout the text. The authors trace the current state of affairs back to the disintegration of the bipolar international system in the late 1980s, producing a new order of multipolarity in which software (particularly firmware) became increasingly productised and commoditised. The book locates emerging security challenges around cyber-warfare, cyber-crime, and cyber-terrorism within this half-century transitional period, featuring the proliferation of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) technology products and how increased availability has lowered the barrier to entry for cyber-attacks against states and their critical infrastructure. This amounts to a ‘meshing’ of sovereignty, where lines between states and non-state actors have been obfuscated and the Westphalian order is imploding. Cyber asymmetries are identified as a key variable in the analysis, with the capacity for covertness and plausible deniability of cyber operations also examined in detail. [excerpt]