# What is Cyberwarfare?

> Cyberwarfare is a contested policy and legal term for cyber operations used as means or methods of warfare, or otherwise integrated with military action, to create strategic or operational effects.

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## Content

Public discussion often uses it more broadly, but no universally settled technical or legal boundary makes every state-linked intrusion, espionage campaign, disruptive incident, or destructive cyberattack an act of war.

Cyber operations in conflict can collect intelligence, disrupt communications or logistics, impair services, support physical operations, or affect connected civilian infrastructure. International humanitarian law (IHL) applies to cyber operations conducted in the context of armed conflict, but determining whether an operation triggers or forms part of such a conflict depends on facts, effects, circumstances, attribution, and decisions by competent authorities.

### Key points

- **Operational context:** Assess the cyber activity alongside military events, stated objectives, target function, timing, scale, effects, and dependencies rather than classifying it from malware or a target name alone.
- **Defensive priorities:** Protect essential and safety-related services, maintain resilient communications and recovery options, coordinate technical and executive decision-making, and account for cross-border or cascading effects.
- **Evidence and escalation:** Preserve technical findings with confidence levels and separate observed facts from intelligence assessments, state attribution, legal characterization, and policy response.
- **Important limitation:** Security teams can describe behavior and impact but cannot by themselves determine state responsibility, a use of force, an armed attack, or the existence of armed conflict. Those are fact-specific legal and governmental judgments.

### Related terms

[Cyberattack](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/cyberattack/>) · [Cyber espionage](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/cyber-espionage/>) · [Hacktivism](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/hacktivism/>) · [Advanced persistent threat (APT)](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/advanced-persistent-threat/>) · [Critical infrastructure protection](<https://yellowcube.eu/glossary/critical-infrastructure-protection/>)

### Sources

[ICRC: Cyber Warfare and International Humanitarian Law](https://www.icrc.org/en/document/cyber-warfare-and-international-humanitarian-law) · [NATO: Cyber Defence](https://www.nato.int/en/what-we-do/deterrence-and-defence/cyber-defence)

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