The deregulation and swarming of cyberwarfare: the need for and limitations of law in enabling aggressive ‘hacking-back’ and pre-emption

This conceptual paper seeks to add some critical tone and shades of light and darkness to the considerations associated with ‘hacking-back’ by liberal democratic states. As with counter-insurgency and related perations, the challenges are that whilst state and non-state adversaries may not play by our rules, we will stick to ours. What space does that leave, then, in an era of unrestricted warfare, for aggressive cyber counter-strike and pre-emptive activities? In summary, the need for creativity and innovation should allow the development of tools, tactics and strategy that deliver strategic competitive advantage, cognizant of legal and other controls, constrains and frameworks. As part of a developing pipeline of research conducted at Northampton Business School, UK, the author draws on consultancy and support to elite military units in the UK, those who develop doctrine, concepts and force for the British Army and relevant security organizations in the UK and beyond.