Why a Cyber War Would Be a Better Option

Article written by guest writer Rin Mitchell

What’s the Latest Development?

Instead of sending military troops overseas to countries to fight a bloody war, they can sit in front of computers in “dimly-lit rooms” that are air conditioned to search and destroy virtually. Cyber wars have the ability to deal with some of the world’s detrimental problems, such as crime, terrorism and nuclear threats. By way of technology the government can use computer viruses to tap into enemy networks in order to detect and attack. The enemy can only speculate where the cyber attack came from because the hackers are able to do the job anonymously. The fact that a cyber war doesn’t involve weapons of bloody destruction, only those weapons of bits and bytes that live in the virtual world means lives can be saved and soldiers wouldn’t need to be deployed. In addition, governments can save a lot of money on war fare because the cost to create and deploy cyber weaponry is a fraction of the cost for other interventions. “The early returns seem to suggest the great efficacy of this new mode of conflict.” 

What’s the Big Idea? 

No one likes war, but right now with tensions rising in Iran, Israel and the United States, it definitely looks as if a war is on the horizon. If a war comes to fruition, then the cyber route would be the best for everyone. “Once the first network or nation takes this path, as some observers believe the United States is doing, others will surely follow, starting a new arms race, this time not in weaponry, but in clandestine and devastating programs like the Stuxnet and Flame virus.”