Elizabeth Van Wie Davis: Addressing the Impact of Cyber Warfare

Elizabeth Van Wie Davis is a noted academic, professor, and expert on the political realities facing countries throughout Asia. Dr. Davis has authored four books centered on the policies and geopolitics of countries throughout Asia. Now working on her fifth, which is titled Ethics of Non-War in Asia, she is assessing the role of technologies of robots, drones and cyber warfare are playing in conflict in the Asia and the world. A topic that is enhanced by her time at Mines, cyber warfare is a new age in human conflict that now characterizes the interactions of a significant group of states.  As a new technology in warfare, not all preexisting terms and concepts neatly apply. For instance, cyber warfare is too often entangled with cybercrime, cyber terrorism, and cyber espionage.  While cyber warfare can be broadly defined as hostile attempts by one nation to penetrate another’s computers or networks, the technology itself allows the aggressors—and responders—to disguise themselves.