Review
'In a new book, provocatively titled Cyber War Will Not Take Place, Rid argues that what we have seen so far in the cyber realm can t properly be classified as war at all. And, he and his allies suggest, in thinking of it that way, we re creating new international hazards and diverting attention from changes that might actually keep us safe. Rid represents one pole of an emerging debate, as the world's policy establishment grapples with how to think about virtual attacks. One side believes that to downplay them is dangerously naive that this latest weapon of war has to be treated with the same seriousness as conventional arms, even nuclear weapons. An international effort is now underway to codify international rules of war as they apply to cyberattacks, placing them on a continuum with conventional warfare. Rid s side of this debate, which includes both experts on cybersecurity and those given the task of designing the new weapons for cyberspace, argues that although the threat is real, in overstating it we re helping create a new kind of global risk. Framing cyberattacks as acts of war has already fueled escalation, as countries like Iran and China invest in their own offensive cyberwarfare capabilities. And the military's enthusiastic embrace of this new theater of war, stoked by public fear, could have dangerous consequences.' ----Boston Globe
'In Cyber War Will Not Take Place, Thomas Rid throws a well-timed bucket of cold water on an increasingly alarmist debate. Just as strategic bombing never fulfilled its promise, and even air power at its apogee -- Kosovo in 1999, or Libya two years ago -- only worked with old-fashioned boots on the ground, Rid argues that the promise of cyber war is equally illusory. . . What Rid does, with great skill, is to pivot the discussion away from cyber war and towards cyber weapons.' ----Financial Times
'Thomas Rid is a German-born academic, now at King s College London. He is one of Britain's leading authorities on, and sceptics about, cyber-warfare. His provocatively titled book attacks the hype and mystique about sabotage, espionage, subversion and other mischief on the internet. He agrees that these present urgent security problems. But he dislikes talk of warfare and the militarisation of the debate about dangers in cyberspace. Computer code can do lots of things, but it is not a weapon of war. He criticises the American air force for using a lobbying gimmick with talk of cyber as a fifth domain of warfare, after land, sea, air and space.' ----The Economist
About the Author
Thomas Rid is Reader in War Studies at King's College London. He is also a non-resident fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations in the School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC.
