Any Hope for Cyber Deterrence Goes Out the Window with AI

Despite these ongoing discussions, governments seem more and more inclined to continue to invest time, effort, and money in developing cyber capabilities, less concerned about trying to deter hostile activities and more concerned about being able to dominate them. Indeed, much of the publicized comments by senior officials from leading cyber powers demonstrates less concern about defending against attacks and more about being able to execute them. Such a focus makes trying to dissuade hostile actors a nominal token at best, hoping that the sheer volume of cyber fire power may be enough to deter nefarious state cyber activity. In late February 2018, Admiral Rogers – the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command – testified before Congress that the President had not give him specific orders or authority to strike back at Russian cyber operations at their source ahead of the midterm elections. Presumably the intimation was that in the sake of guarding itself, Cyber Command would initiate offensive attacks intent on changing the calculus and behavior of these Russian operations.