Infrastructures in Cyber Conflict and Warfare

Written by

Claudia Emilie Aanonsen

Senior Research Fellow

Lars Gjesvik

Senior Research Fellow

Ed.

Summary:

Infrastructure has played a foundational yet often underexplored role in cyber conflict and warfare. While typically treated as a backdrop to more prominent analytical concerns, infrastructure is in fact central to the very existence and functioning of the cyber domain, shaping both civilian and military operations. This chapter in De Gruyter Handbook of Cyber Conflict and Warfare surveys the diverse bodies of scholarship that engage with infrastructure in cyber warfare, revealing how different studies conceptualize what infrastructure is and what it does. Aanonsen and Gjesvik identify three overlapping approaches: infrastructure as a target and object of protection; infrastructure as a capability and source of power; and infrastructure as a force that shapes the practices and nature of warfare itself. Despite increasing attention, significant gaps remain in understanding how infrastructures influence cyber conflict. As scholarship moves from theoretical to empirical studies of cyber warfare, investigating the evolving role of infrastructures offers a promising path for future research.