Asymmetrical warfare
Asymmetrical warfare involves "unconventional strategies and tactics adopted by a force when the military capabilities of belligerent powers are not simply unequal but are so significantly different that they cannot make the same sorts of attacks on each other. "[2]
Encyclopædia Britannica indicates:
| “ | Guerrilla warfare, occurring between lightly armed partisans and a conventional army, is an example of asymmetrical warfare. Terrorist tactics, such as hijackings and suicide bombings, are also considered to be asymmetrical, both because they tend to involve a smaller, weaker group attacking a stronger one and also because attacks on civilians are by definition one-way warfare. War between a country that is both able and willing to use nuclear weapons and a country that is not would be another example of asymmetrical warfare.[3] | ” |
Using the teachings of Sun Tzu to warfare, all warfare is asymmetric because one exploits an enemy's strengths while attacking his weaknesses.[4]
"So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak." - Sun Tzu
Asymmetrical warfare and cyberattacks
Asymmetrical warfare can involve cyberattacks designed to destabilize governments. Activities include cyber espionage capabilities that target not only government agencies and the military but also corporations such as financial institutions and defense contractors. Asymmetrical warfare as a division of the military will target a nations command and control systems, also known as cyber warfare.[5] In the corporate world, cyber intruders exploit systems to allow access to corporate intellectual property and secrets. Asymmetrical warfare is difficult to stop or track. Compromised systems may be undetected and lay dormant for years until war breaks out and only then are these systems designed to disable computer networks.
See also
References
- ↑ DEFINING ASYMMETRIC WARFARE, Association of the United States Army
- ↑ Asymmetrical warfare, Britannica
- ↑ Asymmetrical warfare, Britannica
- ↑ DEFINING ASYMMETRIC WARFARE, Association of the United States Army
- ↑ Google vs. China: The Tip of the Cyberwar, Fox News, January 22, 2010
