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Cyber Deterrence1[01-20][05-06]

In 2008, the U.S. faced a significant increase in cyber attacks, with Homeland Security reporting over 37,000 incidents, including major intrusions affecting various government departments and private businesses. The economic impact of these cyber attacks was estimated at $1 trillion, with critical national infrastructure being particularly vulnerable, costing millions in downtime. President Obama emphasized the importance of treating digital infrastructure as a strategic national asset and prioritized its protection against malicious cyber operations.

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Cyber Deterrence1[01-20][05-06]

In 2008, the U.S. faced a significant increase in cyber attacks, with Homeland Security reporting over 37,000 incidents, including major intrusions affecting various government departments and private businesses. The economic impact of these cyber attacks was estimated at $1 trillion, with critical national infrastructure being particularly vulnerable, costing millions in downtime. President Obama emphasized the importance of treating digital infrastructure as a strategic national asset and prioritized its protection against malicious cyber operations.

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776 EMORY INTERNATIONAL LAW REVIEW [Vol.

26

"Homeland Security counted 37,258 attacks on government and private


networks [in 2008], compared with 4,095 in 2005."8 A recent Center for
Strategic and International Studies report stated:
[T]he Departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security, and
Commerce; NASA; and National Defense University all suffered
major intrusions by unknown foreign entities. The unclassified email
of the secretary of defense was hacked, and DOD officials told us
that the department's computers are probed hundreds of thousands of
times each day. A senior official at the Department of State told us
the department had lost "terabytes" of information. Homeland
Security suffered break-ins in several of its divisions, including the
Transportation Security Agency. The Department of Commerce was
forced to take the Bureau of Industry and Security off-line for several
months, and NASA has had to impose e-mail restrictions before
shuttle launches and allegedly has seen designs for new launchers
compromised. 9

The government is certainly not alone as a target for malicious computer


operations. Private businesses are also being hacked at an alarming rate. In a
recent incident targeting "proprietary corporate data, e-mails, credit-card
transaction data and login credentials at companies in the health and
technology industries," more than 75,000 computers at more than 2,500
businesses in 196 countries were targeted.' 0 The presumed targets in these
attacks were intellectual property and proprietary information that could be
translated into economic gain for the attackers." According to Ty Sagalow,
chairman of the Internet Security Alliance board of directors, "[a]n estimated
$1 trillion was lost in the United States in 2008 through cyber attacks." 1 2 This

Siobhan Gorman, Bush Looks to Beef Up ProtectionAgainst Cyberattacks, WALL ST. J., Jan. 28, 2008,
at A9.
9 COMM'N ON CYBERSECURITY FOR THE 44TH PRESIDENCY, CTR. FOR STRATEGIC & INT'L STUDIES,
SECURING CYBERSPACE FOR THE 44TH PRESIDENCY 12-13 (2008).
10 Ellen Nakashima, Large Worldide Cyber Attack Uncovered, WASH. POST, Feb. 18, 2010, at A3.
' See id.
12 William Matthews, Cyber War's 'Front Lines' May Be in Private Hands, DEF. NEWS, Dec. 7, 2009, at
38, available at 2009 WLNR 25655553; see DEP'T OF DEF., supra note 4, at 4 (stating that "[e]very year, an
amount of intellectual property larger than that contained in the Library of Congress is stolen from networks
maintained by U.S. businesses, universities, and governmental departments and agencies."). The United States
is not alone in this area. According to recent reports, China is suffering from severe criminal activity that is
causing serious domestic problems. "The annual worth of China's 'hacker industry' is now over 238 million
yuan (about $34.8 million), causing upwards of 7.6 billion yuan (about $1.1 billion) in losses .... The number
of computers in China controlled by 'botnets' tops the list worldwide." Tang Lan & Zhang Xin, The Viewfron
China: Can Cyber Deterrence Work?, in GLOBAL CYBER DETERRENCE: VIEWS FROM CHINA, THE U.S.,
RUSSIA, INDIA, AND NORWAY 1, 2 (Andrew Nagorski ed. 2010) [hereinafter GLOBAL CYBER DETERRENCE]. But
2012] CYBER DETERRENCE 777

is more than the annual Gross Domestic Product of all but the top nineteen
countries in the world.13
Among the most worrisome of hacking incidents are those focused on
critical national infrastructure.14 This infrastructure is the backbone of United
States' transportation and economic systems. 5 The cost of downtime alone
from major attacks on critical national infrastructure "exceeds . . . $6 million
per day."1 6 The attacks have caused President Barack Obama to recently state,
From now on, our digital infrastructure-the networks and computers
we depend on every day-will be treated as they should be: as a
strategic national asset. Protecting this infrastructure will be a
national security priority. We will ensure that these networks are
secure, trustworthy and resilient. We will deter, prevent, detect, and
defend a gainst attacks and recover quickly from any disruptions or
damage.
President Obama's recognition of the role and importance of deterring
malicious cyber operations, including cyber attacks, incorporates the
traditional notions of deterrence to this modern risk to national security.

see Robert Vamosi, The Myth of that $1 Trillion Cybercrime Figure, SECURITYWEEK (Aug. 3, 2012), http:/
www.securityweek.com/myth-1-trillion-cybercrime-figure.
13 CIA, Country Comparison: GDP (Purchasing Poiwer Parity), CIA WORLD
FACTBOOK,
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbooldrankorder/2001rank.html (based on 2011
estimates) (last visited Nov. 16, 2012).
14 As defined in the Critical Infrastructures Protection Act of 2001, critical national infrastructure "means
systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction
of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national
public health or safety, or any combination of those matters." 42 U.S.C. § 5195c(e) (2006); see also DEP'T OF
DEF., DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DIRECTIVE No. 3020.40, DoD POLICY AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR CRITICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE 19, 20 (2010); ExEc. OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT, PRESIDENTIAL DECISION DIRECTIVE 63,
CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION (1998).
15 42U.S.C. §5195c(b).
16 STEWART BAKER ET AL., IN THE CROSSFIRE: CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE AGE OF CYBER WAR
3
(2010).
17 Barack Obama, Remarks by the President on Securing Our Nation's Cyber Infrastructure
(May 29,
2009), available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-Securing-Our-
Nations-Cyber-Infrastructure. This sentiment was echoed by U.S. Cyber Command's General Alexander,
"[t]his increased inter-connectedness of our information systems, combined with the growing sophistication of
cyber criminals and foreign intelligence actors, has increased our risk. Our inter-connectedness is now a
national security issue." Budget Request for Information Technology and Cyber Operations Programs:
Hearing on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 20/3 and Oversight of Previously
Authorized Programs,Before the Subcomm. on Emerging Threats and Capabilitiesof the H. Comm on Armed
Services, 112th Cong. 6 (March 20, 2012) [hereinafter Budget Request for Information Technology and Cyber
Operations Programs] (statement of General Keith B. Alexander, Commander, United States Cyber
Command).

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