General
These two nations lead the world in cyber-warfare
Russia and China
Pro: Name two ways in which the US economy is negatively affected by cyber attacks.
Bonus: The US government's estimate of the monetary loss.
Possible answers: denial of service attacks, data and property destruction, business disruption (sometimes for the purpose of collecting ransoms) and theft of proprietary data, intellectual property, and sensitive financial and strategic information
Bonus: between $57 billion and $109 billion in 2016
Pro: Two reasons why global US leadership is important
Possible: Ensure global stability, helps allies (humanitarian efforts)
Con: Give two reasons how other countries may respond negatively
More distrustful, more conflict, less cooperation, decline in trade relations
Pro says: The US needs to maintain superiority in order to have global influence
Con says: arms race, diplomatic gains are more valuable than militaristic, doesn’t threaten US superiority (strongest military, economic leader, etc), unnecessary increase in US power just encourages retaliation and resentment
Name the four countries considered US adversaries in cyberwarfare
Russia, China, Iran, North Korea
Con: Name two reasons that cyberwarfare is expensive.
Bonus: Trump’s 2020 budget request for cybersecurity
Possible answers: training/paying employees, purchasing/maintaining the technology
Bonus: “FY 2020 President’s Budget includes $17.4 billion of budget authority for cybersecurity-related activities, an $790 million (5 percent) increase above the FY 2019 estimate”
Con: US cyber attacks invite attacks from other nations. Give two reasons how individual Americans would be impacted negatively.
Possible: Personal info (healthcare, electronic messages, credit card info, etc) targeted more, less secure, unrest due to mounting arms race and weakening diplomatic ties
Pro: Explain how offensive cyber operations would maintain US influence and/or promote global order
won’t be overshadowed by China, Russia, etc. Maintain militaristic strength
US will be able to set policy determining guidelines and precedents for cyberwarfare
At a global perspective: creating precedents and guidelines helps create order
Con says: The US’ use of offensive cyber operations will result in more international conflict and incite an arms race
Pro says: necessary to maintain US influence to quell authoritarianism, shape gobal policy, etc
Define “offensive cyber operations”
Example: “operations to manipulate, deny, disrupt, degrade, or destroy targeted computers, information systems or networks.”
Pro: Name two reasons why the US government should protect US companies by retaliating against foreign attacks
Possible answers: Economic stability creates political stability, government should protect the people (destruction of their income is harmful), US must defend its own assets
Pro: Give at least one reason how individual Americans are uplifted by US cyberattacks against adversarial nations
Possible: Greater sense of security, greater protection of information possibly targeted by cyber attacks
Pro: List one way cyber offensive operations have strengthened international relations
US and Germany have bonds over cyber operations and signed a cooperative agreement on cyber security in 2008.
Con says: Private US companies should be protecting themselves, not the government.
Pro says: this debate is about attacks not defense so the government has a responsibility to protect its people from and retaliate against foreign attacks because private companies should not be engaging with foreign agents unilaterally
Name three different forms of cyberattack
Wipe data from computers
ransomware -- lock computers until the victim pays a fine
denial of service attacks -- make websites and digital tools unusable
Con: Explain why US companies should protect themselves rather than shoving the cybersecurity burden onto the government
In countries that inflict cyber attacks on the US, the private sector has close relations with the government and cooperation is very frequent. A vulnerable US private sector would make it much more risky to respond to cyber attacks.
More efficient way to protect civilians than government increasing capabilities, because government increases feed into arms race to a greater degree than private sector security increases
Pro: Explain the ideological reason for attacking nations such as Russia, China, and Iran.
Promotion of democracy and containment of authoritarianism
Con: Explain how offensive US cyber operations may create tension with US allies
US is unprepared for cyber offense so acting without resources can end in breaches in security which may make allies vulnerable
Inclination to attack unilaterally and ignore protocol
Precedent: “In late 2016, U.S. Cyber Command operators wiped Islamic State propaganda material off a server located in Germany. The German government was...not asked for advance consent, causing much frustration.”
Pro says: The US needs to attack in order to stop the rise of authoritarian and illiberal regimes.
Con says: the US is still superior and has immense influence, should not be moving unilaterally, attacks worsen relations and drive closer to war
Name three companies that have been affected by foreign cyberattacks and detail the incident
OR
Name and detail three recent (since August 2019) cyberattacks
Possible answers: Github, United Airlines, Wall Street Journal
Possible answers: (see doc)
Con: Explain why the US should focus on defense more than offense and how this claim fits into the resolution
COMBO: this answer goes beyond the economic category
attacks often more expensive than defense, similar skills for offense and defense, neglecting defense results in vulnerabilities, unnecessary conflict due to misguided preemptive strikes, better to protect US than retaliate afterwards
many pro points are about retaliating against attacks which could be prevented by defensive measures. Pro's need to protect US economy is defensive, not offensive. encouraging offensive cyber operations within the limited budget means less to defensive operations
Pick a side and explain how offensive cyber attacks would impact casualty rates.
Bonus: support with an example
Varied answers acceptable
Bonus: Use of cyberattack against Iran instead of traditional methods which may hae resulted in 150 casualties
Describe the US governments current position on cyber offensive operations and explain what "defend forward" means as used in the DoD cyber strategy plan
Offensive cyber operations allowed: National Security Presidential Memorandum 13, or NSPM 13 — frees the military to engage, without a lengthy approval process, in actions that fall below the “use of force” or a level that would cause death, destruction or significant economic impacts
Defend forward: operations that are intended to have a disruptive or even destructive effect on an external network, implies preemptive attack
Pro says: US offensive capabilities necessary for stable economy
Con says: Foreign offensives frequently target companies so increasing capabilities could cause an increase in attacks, US attacks will decrease global cooperation and trade --> adverse effect on economy