ABSTRACT
New interconnected information and communication technologies have equipped governments as well as non-state actors with the tools to conduct worldwide surveillance, influence democratic processes and collect unprecedented amounts of personal and private data. Cyberspace has also impacted the means and methods of warfare and conflict and has been recognized as ‘a new battlefield, coequal with combat on land, sea or air’ (Møller, 2017). Consequently, there now exist new avenues for attack that involve a broad spectrum of actors and upend traditional rules of engagement including the determination of by whom, and even whether, an armed attack has been launched. In response, a growing number of states and private actors have developed sophisticated methods for gathering intelligence and carrying out coercive actions against state and non-state entities.
