Book Review: @War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex by Shane Harris
This is why we can’t have nice things. Whether we like it or not, we’re all in a digital war zone with packets of cyber ordnance landing all around us and on us. You might not be hearing physical explosions just yet, but cyber attacks are already being crafted by nation states and non-government actors to produce destructive effects on critical infrastructure such as banks, the power grid, and hospitals. Non-combatants (i.e. non-hackers) are far from exempt, as normal users, businesses, and agencies are often the targets of choice for the taking of digital hostages.
Shane Harris credibly documents in an unclassified format the actions and reasoning behind the offensive cyber operations undertaken by nation states large and small. If you’re reading for personal drama, there’s plenty here for you at the highest levels of government—and the policies resulting from that drama are traveling at near the speed of light to an online device near you. The proponents of the surveillance state believe their actions are crucial to the safety of the public—other security experts and civil libertarians disagree. Participation by the private sector is considered essential in some parts of the government in terms of letting the government tap into private networks for the purpose of fusing intelligence for tracking and stopping cyber attacks. The logic for this (as well as the potential for mischief) is clear.
This book stops at the year 2014—but it provides an essential understanding for following cyberspace events since that time. Who the heads of state are in the countries involved is critically relevant, as any nation or organization can wreak havoc on millions of innocent people (including you and me) without using a kinetic military of global reach. Whether governments are even capable of stopping cyber attacks on non-combatants is an open debate discussed in this book. There is a growing specialized industry stepping in to fill the gap and meet the demands of corporate customers seeking to protect their assets and operations from digital intrusions, theft, and damage. As private industry increasingly realizes that their fate may rest in their own hands, the practical and legal questions multiply—they have to do something on their own if they expect to remain viable.
As jaw dropping as some of the events chronicled in this book may be, I did not read the author’s message as one of doomsday resignation. Instead it’s more akin to noting that the weather is cold so put on your coat before you go outside—therefore each of us must ensure that we dress properly for the digital weather.
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