It ' s not much of a question . Economic and information conflicts have existed since Caesar ' s time , if not earlier . Shouldcould economic warfare tools wielded by nationstates to fight each other be considered weapons , and these fights defacto war ? no although trade disputes often lead to war . cyber warfarethere is a very real problem with knowing who has attacked you , in cyber warfare , and the problem is you often don ' t know and can ' t prove even the little you do know . I would argue that socalled cyber warfare should be demoted to cyberespionnage and cybersabotage , as separate categories , and that while both can be and usually are used in allout war , they also have a place in peacetimethe problem of distinguishing war from peace is larger still