Responses to the Threat: National Cyber Security Planning

Abstract

In this chapter, the question is asked as to how states are approaching their counter-threat strategies in the contemporary era. A particular area of complexity is indentified in the manner in which the threat of cyber attack in its various iterations spans both public and private sectors. This leads to a particular complex set of questions for government policymakers. A fear of government intrusion into privacy further complicates the matter. Many analysts have tried to approach the policy question by analogising with previous threats, The nuclear threat in the twentieth century has often formed the basis of analysis in Western circles, although many have argued that cyber weapons are perhaps more akin to chemical or biological, than to nuclear weapons.