Abstract

This article observes the concept of Kautilya’s silent war and its relevance to modernday war. Kautilya’s strategies for covert operations, particularly the tactics of secretly assassinating the main leaders, spreading falsehood, and subverting provide a framework for understanding contemporary cyber threats. By analysing the principles of tushnimyuddha along with the present cyber war, the article aims to demonstrate how ancient knowledge can inform and improve modern approaches to cyber-security. The conclusion suggests that Kautilya’s insights into the dynamics of power, deception, and indirect engagement remain applicable in today’s digital landscape, where state and non-state actors increasingly utilize covert operations to achieve strategic objectives.

Keywords

Kautilya, Tushnimyuddha, Ancient Indian history, Silent War, Cyber Warfare, Deception, Espionage, Strategic Objectives, Spy-craft.

Introduction

No account of India’s ancient history- whether in the realms of political, social, economic or military discourse is complete without a brief reference to the Arthashastra. It encompasses some military matters and discussion on warfare, diplomacy and military organisation methods. For Kautilya, if war and deception are an extension of certain natural constituents of human nature, so is the need for a norms-based social and political order. He elucidates three primary categories of yuddha or warfare, namely, prakashayuddha (open war), kootayuddha (concealed war) and tushnimyuddha (silent war). One way or the other, modern warfare is mostly about kootayuddha or tushnimyuddha, or a combination of both, revealing striking similarities between Kautilya’s silent war concept and Cyber-war. The primary objective of this article is to explore the parallel between Kautilya’s Tushnimyuddha and modern cyber warfare, focusing on strategic deception, anonymity, and long-term destabilization. This study aims to highlight the persistent relevance of ancient strategies in the context of contemporary digital conflict, providing insights into enhancing cyber-security measures and understanding modern cyber threats. This article will first delve into Kautilya’s thoughts on tushnimyuddha (silent war) and then analyse modern Cyber-war. By examining these concepts, the article will uncover the commonalities and parallels between them.
 

Understanding of Silent War

Kautilya advocates three types of war, viz., open war (Prakashayuddha), concealed war (kootayuddha) and silent war (tushnimyuddha). Open war is an open fight where the place and time are discussed and concealed war, that is, a surprise attack on the enemy that instils fear or strikes somewhere; however, silent war is a pattern of fighting that no other thinker has discussed.

A silent war was another type of war with another kingdom in which the king, along with his ministers and, unknowingly, the people, went about their public business as if they were at peace with the opposing kingdom, but secretly assassinating important leaders there, alienated key ministers and classes, spread incendiary items. A silent war is not fought on the battlefield. It does not usually have an external enemy, and it is fought continuously inside the kingdom so that the power of the enemy king is diluted slowly and steadily. The military action is minimal in silent warfare.

In a silent war, secret agents were of the utmost importance, and secrecy was paramount. The king could prevail only by “maintaining secrecy when striking again and again.” They prepare a strategy to see what can disrupt the opponent. There is something unusual about a silent war. It may be unfolding around us, but we wouldn’t know. And even if we have an idea of it, we would not be able to do much about it. By the time we grasped the situation and made an attempt to solve the problem, it would be too late. Because it may be there for a long time, working away slowly, silently and steadily.
 

Cyber-war

Cyber-war is a new concept and is considered a fifth domain of warfare. Cyber war is conducted in and from computers and the networks connecting them, waged by states or their proxies against other states. Cyber warfare represents a significant shift in conflict and defence. It involves the use of digital attacks by one nation to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorised access to another country’s computer systems. These threats range from propaganda to espionage and extensive infrastructure disruption and loss of life to citizens.

Although cyber-warfare generally refers to cyber-attacks perpetrated by one nationstate on another, it can also describe attacks by terrorist groups or hacker groups aimed at furthering the goals of a nation. Cyber-war may cripple critical infrastructure, disseminate disinformation, and damage economies on a scale equivalent to a physical attack. Hacking, malware, and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) are all examples of cyber-warfare attacks. Its primary objective is to weaken the target country by compromising its core systems.

To date, no nation has declared a cyber-war and, although many governments have spoken out about cyber activities, none have stated they suffered from an act of war. Western states depend on cyberspace for the everyday functioning of nearly all aspects of modern society, and developing states are becoming more reliant upon cyberspace every year.

Everything modern society needs to function, from critical infrastructures and financial institutions to modes of commerce and tools for national security, depends to some extent upon cyberspace. Therefore, the threat of cyber-war and its purported effects concern governments and militaries worldwide.
 

Parallels Between Them

Examining the philosophies of Kautilya’s silent warfare and modern-day cyberwarfare reveals striking parallels in their strategic approaches. The concept of a silent war aligns well with the phenomenon of cyber-war, given the lack of measures to monitor every activity occurring in the vast cyberspace, and its emphasis on covert tactics.

A silent war was not fought on the battlefield; the same goes for cyber-war, which has been waged in cyberspace, a virtual arena rather than a physical one. This makes it non-military or, in some cases, minimal military actions are involved. The primary objective in both scenarios is to weaken the target country by compromising its core system and gathering intelligence. Moreover, they are stealthy and covert in nature. It may be happening around us, but we wouldn’t know, and by the time we get the idea of it, the damage is done. Spies execute the damage in a silent war, whereas in a cyber-war, cyber warriors play a crucial role.

This anonymity means that the attackers remain unknown in both cases. In both cases, you have to have knowledge of the technology of the enemy and how to operate those against the enemy. Which is why both take time to make a covert attack as gathering information on the enemy’s strength and technology, and then evaluating the damage.

Moreover, both emphasise unconventional tactics and disruption of resources. Real world case studies illustrate these parallels effectively. The Stuxnet worm was used to attack Iran's nuclear program in what is considered one of the most sophisticated malware attacks in history. The malware targeted Iranian supervisory control and data acquisition systems and was spread with infected USB devices. This mirrors the silent assassination of key leaders in

Tushnimyuddha, here instead of key leaders, key areas are being attacked, as it strategically crippled a critical capability of the enemy.

Russian cyber operations, such as the "Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election", demonstrate the use of disinformation and propaganda to undermine trust in democratic institutions. This mirrors Kautilya’s tactics of spreading misinformation, which will lead to the weakening of the enemy from within. In addition to this, hackers mirror Kautilya’s use of spies to influence political outcomes.

In 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice charged two Chinese hackers associated with the Chinese government's Ministry of State Security with targeting intellectual property and confidential business information. This exemplifies the long-term economic destabilization that can be achieved through covert cyber activities. This is parallel with the Tushnimyuddha tactic of disrupting the enemy's resources and economic stability. These examples reflect exact similarities between Tushnimyuddha and Cyber-warfare.

Modern cyber-security countermeasures are evolving to address these threats. Machine learning and AI are also being used to help improve cyber defences. For instance, machine learning and AI software can quickly evaluate anomalies and automate preventative security responses. AI-driven software solutions detect and correct vulnerabilities in real-time to secure networks and critical systems. Public- and private-sector organizations use AIpowered tools against ransomware and DDoS attacks, which allows for real-time monitoring, detection, and response to cyber-attacks. Governments worldwide have enacted laws and taken other preventative measures to defend against a myriad of cyber attackers. Some popular attack detection strategies are: Host Intrusion Detection Systems (HIDS) - this equipment stays on a host and monitors different activities that take place there. Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) – this equipment can monitor the network traffic of an entire class that passes through a link and, based on that, can identify different cyberattacks. Specification-based Detection, this kind of approach has recently been introduced, and it is used to reduce the number of false-positive (FP) alerts. Security Audits are better to regularly conduct security audits to discover possible vulnerabilities, risks, misconfigurations, out-of-date programs or services, and so on, that can easily be exploited by an attacker.
 

Conclusion

This examination of parallels between Kautilya’s concept of Tushnimyuddha (silent war) and modern cyber-warfare shows that the ancient strategies of Kautilya are still relevant. They can still inform contemporary security practices. Kautilya’s principles suggest the espionage of an opponent’s power strategies that resonate deeply with the covert operations predominant in today’s cyberspace. As cyber warfare continues to evolve, the lessons from Kautilya’s teachings on silent war remain relevant. The ability to operate undetected in a vast digital arena reflects the covert nature of Tushnimyuddha, where actions may be revealed silently until their effects are felt.

There are many things in history to discover and bring that knowledge of the past back to life, and Kautilya’s concept of silent war is one such case. It demonstrates that Kautilya was a great and long-term strategist. It suggests that even if we are advancing today, our history will guide us and relate to us in every aspect of our lives.

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