Cyber Peace: And How It Can Be Achieved

Abstract

This contribution investigates elements of cyber conflicts and attacks to determine the current state of cyber peace. The first section examines the current state of the Internet and whether or not it is in a state of cyber war. It analyses the classical concept of peace and war and determines which elements can be adapted to the digital sphere and where such a transformation can be problematic. The term ‘cyber peace’ is then defined and the components that make such a state possible identified. The last section discusses the different roles and their responsibilities to reach and preserve a state of peace in the digital sphere, coming to the conclusion that the Internet is not in a state of cyber war but more in a state of negative or unstable peace. To protect the Internet as a critical infrastructure from being abused as a new battleground, this chapter suggests moving towards a state of stable peace, and proposes increasing the security and resilience on a technical level and building up trust between all actors, ranging from the individual to the state level.