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A comment on GitHub under ongoing DDoS attack. Parent comment

Re:GitHub under ongoing DDoS attack by jacquesm on Sunday March 29, 2015 @03:13PM (#9286057)
I don't think this qualifies as an act of war, not by a long shot. But that does raise an interesting question: what would be considered (or rather should) an act of war in cyberspace?

Should the target be a whole nation? Or maybe enough of it to affect their ability to function? How much commerce disruption equates an act of war, even if no shots are fired?

You'd need some pretty good proof and how would you respond? With another cyber attack? Or escalate into a shooting war? Or by disconnecting the attacking country from the internet?

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Re:GitHub under ongoing DDoS attack by tbrownaw on Sunday March 29, 2015 @04:13PM (#9286309)
How much commerce disruption equates an act of war, even if no shots are fired?

I'm pretty sure blockading ports (as in cities where ships go, not network ports) counts, so that's a starting point. But on the other hand, blockades do tend to be backed up by at least threats of actual physical violence, so.... ?

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