La Ciberdefensa ofensiva y la Inteligencia Artificial

Aproximaciones prospectivas al uso de armas cibernéticas autónomas

Abstract

Cyber Defense is a new Area of Capability within the Armed Forces and, like defense, it is part of its main mission according to our legislation. Unlike the traditional domains where armed conflicts take place - land, sea and air - Cyberspace possesses, in addition to its territorial anchorage, an important configuration component that gives it the characteristics of virtuality.

This virtual component does not exempt it from the impact or effect produced in the physical world by an incident or aggression initiated in the cyber environment. In the current state of the art, the protection of this domain is mostly defensive, it would not require offensive elements for the fulfillment of the objective, however the conceptual and technological evolution is migrating towards proactive and non-reactive systems, driven by disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In that sense, the dual use - civilian and military - of technology for cyber protection, would entail the risk of the spread of automated attacks through AI-enabled weapons with indirect effects in the physical world.

Therefore, the convergence of these two domains, in some cases indistinguishable for autonomous cyberweapons, which should also measure the effects produced in a multi-domain operation, highlights the need to contextualize and explore the regulatory aspect of their development and use.