The hacking of the International Monetary Fund, Central Intelligence Agency and Citibank computer systems has raised fears that the US is on the brink of a cyberwar for which it is woefully unprepared. To deal with this growing threat, the Obama administration’s strategy is to treat destructive state-sponsored cyberattacks as an act of war that may even result in a conventional military response. This approach unfortunately has an unsustainable double standard: while Barack Obama’s strategy treats cyberdestruction by someone else as an act of war, his administration’s actions imply that cyberdestruction by America is a normal covert action, equivalent to espionage.
国际货币基金组织(IMF)、中央情报局(CIA)和花旗银行(Citibank)电脑系统遭到的黑客入侵，令人们担心美国正处在一场网络战争的边缘——可糟糕的是，美国对此尚无准备。为应对日益增大的网络安全威胁，巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)政府采取的战略是，把得到国家支持的、具有破坏性的网络攻击视为一种战争行为，美国甚至可动用常规军事手段予以反制。令人遗憾的是，美国的这一对策存在不可维系的双重标准：尽管奥巴马的战略把其它方面发动的网络破坏视为战争行为，但美国政府的所作所为暗示，美国方面发动的网络破坏却可算作与间谍活动无异的正常秘密行动。