Multiple large-scale cyberattacks against American companies and government agencies this past year raised alarms over cybersecurity. Politicians from both parties, such as Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mark Warner (D-VA), called upon the United States to retaliate against the perpetrators. However, like with every other kind of intrusive international behavior, the solution to cyber threats is not an arms race and aggression, but norms and standards. The U.S. needs to recognize that it will never be safe from cyberattacks until it reconciles its words with its own behaviors in the digital realm.
In 2011, the White House declared cyberattack against the U.S. as an act of war. The U.S. will be responding with “all necessary means – diplomatic, informational, military, and economic – as appropriate and consistent with applicable international law, in order to defend our Nation, our allies, our partners, and our interests.” However, when it comes to practices, the United States has broken many parts of that statement. The U.S. must live up to its words and earn the trust of its allies before it can start to lead the creation of global cyber norms, the only long-term solution to the challenge. In the White House statement, the U.S. committed to building a digital environment that’s based on diplomacy, defense, and development. However, the U.S. has also conducted some of the most damaging cyberattack operations in the last decade. Often considered the first major state-sponsored offensive cyberattack, the use of Stuxnet malware caused substantial damage to Iranian critical infrastructure and set back its nuclear program for years. Although it might be a successful campaign from the perspective of non-proliferation, the operation demolished U.S. credibility to call out o ..
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