Militarization of Cyberspace and its Implications on National/International Security

Abstract

The paramountcy of cyberspace together with the strikingness of globalization have transformed the universe into a global village, fostered businesses around the globe, connected people and enterprises and created immense opportunities for economic related activity, and communication. Consequently, an increasing number of processes are now reliant on the interconnectedness of digital infrastructure, which has resulted to the emerging cyber threats against individual, national, international, commercial and private security actors. Cyberattacks have changed the perception of states towards the cyberspace, necessitating the rising militarization of cyberspace by many countries leading to the advancement and development of their cyber military capabilities. This has created threatening conditions to the national/international security of states such as; the possibility of cyberattacks or cyberwar among states or non-state actors as well as the strategic leadership competition among powerful states such as; the U.S., China and Russia within the cyber domain. The militarization of cyberspace by these states and their perceptions of cyber threats from the advancement of cyber military capabilities of each state based on the realist thinking of international relations/security are formulated debates within this research. The research relies on secondary sources and employs a qualitative research approach, which reviews current literature on the topic under study to aver the potential transformation of the traditional/physical armed conflicts in the world into cyberwarfare as a result of the ongoing militarization of cyberspace constituting the fragility of national/international security.