Cyberspace as a New Battlefield - Borderless Conflict and Technological Evolution Since the 1990s

Cyberspace as a New Battlefield - Borderless Conflict and Technological Evolution Since the 1990s

After the end of the Cold War, a new battlefield, "cyberspace," emerged as all-out warfare between nations diminished. The spread of the Internet has simultaneously incorporated social infrastructures such as finance, telecommunications, energy, and transportation into the network, and state operations have become increasingly digitally dependent. As a result, the form of warfare shifted from armed conflict over territory to attacks on information systems, and malware and viruses replaced missiles and tanks as weapons. In the 2000s, Estonia and Georgia faced massive DDoS attacks that paralyzed their national governments. Furthermore, Stuxnet in 2010 targeted Iran's nuclear facilities, proving that cyber attacks can in fact destroy physical infrastructure. Defenders also put in place firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and encrypted communications, but were constantly cornered by zero-day attacks and the emergence of APTs, and the proliferation of cloud computing and IoT h
as expanded the attack surface indefinitely. Thus, cyberspace has transformed into a battlefield without boundaries, involving not only nations but also corporations and individuals. Conventional international law and security frameworks are no longer able to cope with this transformation, and the world is now faced with a new era of warfare.