Cyber Warfare, Cyberbullying and Psychological Warfare: Ethical and Anticipated Ethical Issues

Abstract

This analysis takes as its starting point the view that ideas that originate in the civilian arena can migrate to the area of warfare and cyber warfare. The central idea is that distinctions that apply for cyberbullying can be applied to issues in cyber warfare. The analysis addresses the escalation of individual-level psychological warfare exhibited in cyberbullying to the level of psychological warfare in cyber warfare by analyzing the intersection of social engineering and algorithmic vulnerabilities. It is in this way that cyberbullying is related to cyber warfare. This discussion employs a method that draws upon distinctions taken from computer science, conceptual ethical analysis and case studies. Utilizing case studies from the domain of cyberbullying, this analysis examines four distinct incidents involving Tyler Clementi, Amanda Todd, Jay Taylor and Elijah Heacock. Cyberbullying represents a form of psychological operation that can also operate in cyberwarfare because it weaponizes digital communications to manipulate emotions, erode morale, and destabilize individuals and groups.  The goal of the analysis is to identify the evolution of threat modalities related to psychological warfare involving cyber bullying from unauthorized webcams to AI powered velocity sextortion and gamified harassment groups, to the domain of cyber warfare. The cyberbullying cases are analyzed through the lens of Anticipatory Ethics, which is ethical analysis focused on developing technologies, specifically highlighting the failure of social media platforms to uphold the “Sociotechnical Imperative” and the “Post-Deployment Mandate.” To mitigate against human factor risks associated with psychological warfare and cyberbullying and cyber warfare, various defensive AI frameworks can be implemented: Behavioral Graph AI to break grooming funnels, Stylometric Analysis to prevent ban evasion and Acoustic Coercion Analysis to detect the real-time sources of psychological distress. This research, employing analysis and definitions of standard concepts from cyberbullying and Cyberwarfare, concludes that proactive, AI driven detection grounded in ethical analysis and the ACM Code of Ethics is essential for securing the safety of the human element in digital infrastructure. Future analysis will explore more directly how cyber bullying is being employed in cyber warfare.