Terrorism and cyber attacks as hybrid threats: defining a comprehensive approach for countering 21st century threats to global peace and security.

Abstract

Multimodal, kinetic and non-kinetic threats to international peace and security, including cyber-attacks, low intensity asymmetric conflict scenarios, global terrorism, piracy, transnational organized crime, resources security, retrenchment from globalization and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, were identified by NATO as ‘hybrid threats,’ which state actors are ill-equipped to handle. This interdisciplinary article predicts that military doctrines, traditional concepts of war and peace, and legal perceptions will be challenged by the nature of these threats.