Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what definition his Department uses for cyber warfare.

Penny Mordaunt

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) (through its Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre) does not seek to define terms or elements of terms, particularly those applied in compound form, that are already in common use (i.e. "warfare").

The MOD defines cyber activity as: "To operate and project power in and from cyberspace to influence the behaviour of people". The OECD defines "warfare" as: "engagement in or the activities involved in war or conflict".

The MOD describes the active engagement in the conduct of "cyber operations" within our lexicon as being: "the planning and synchronisation of activities in and through cyberspace to enable freedom of manoeuvre and to achieve military objectives." This term applies to activities that include those conducted in war or conflict.