A 0 and 1 War: Cyber ​​Attacks Become a New Military Strategy

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From: Futurism

Author: Abby Norman Tong

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The Fifth Field of War

Before the 2016 U.S. election, the Democratic National Committee was hacked. Leaked documents and fake news spread rapidly across social media, marking a coordinated attack on American democracy. But is this considered a war? In the traditional sense, cyber warfare refers to a nation-state attacking another country's digital infrastructure.

These threats are what Samuel Woolley, director of research at the Digital Intelligence Lab, calls “computational propaganda.” He defines it as the dissemination of false information with political motives, often designed and published through the internet—especially social media—with a mix of algorithms, automation, and human involvement. According to Woolley, such attacks target the core elements of democracy: media, open citizenship, privacy, and free elections.

An incident like the one before the 2016 election may signal a new trend: we are entering an era of digital warfare. This kind of warfare is more insidious and harmful than traditional conflict and will not be as dramatic as Pearl Harbor or 9/11.

Our understanding of war, its origins, and tactics is evolving. The line between cyber threats and territorial threats is becoming blurred. As Adriana LaFron wrote in The Atlantic, the behavior of cyber warfare must be seen as warfare itself.

A War of 0s and 1s

More than a decade ago, the U.S. Cyber Command began developing a digital weapon called Stuxnet—a malicious computer worm believed to be the first of its kind. As reported by the New York Times, it was originally used against Iran to disrupt its nuclear program. The U.S. government never officially admitted to creating the worm, and Israel has also remained silent about its involvement in its development.

Stuxnet exploited software vulnerabilities known as "zero-day" exploits, which are security flaws that are immediately targeted after discovery. It silently infected systems without requiring user interaction, such as downloading a malicious file. Moreover, the worm spread globally through Windows systems. To reach Iranian networks, attackers infected computers outside of Iran that were connected to the target system, using them as carriers for the virus.

As its impact grew, analysts recognized Stuxnet as the first known weapon in cyberwarfare.

Just like in real-world wars, the goal of cyber warfare is to find and exploit weaknesses. States invest significant resources to gather intelligence on other countries’ activities. They identify key figures in a nation’s government and society, who can influence public opinion on important social and political issues.

Gathering details about economic stability, health, and even media usage habits in another country has long been a standard practice in intelligence operations. If a country launches an attack and identifies which group is most affected, it could be a matter of effectiveness or efficiency.

Historically, intelligence gathering was done by spies risking their lives to infiltrate buildings, steal files, or retrieve hard drives. The more covert these tasks were, the less likely they were to alert the owners. Once obtained, the data would be decoded by analysts or crackers to help military leaders refine their strategies.

The internet has made this process almost instantaneous. If hackers know where to look, they can breach digital defenses, extract data, and decode it quickly—something that once took years now takes minutes. Hostile nations can use sensitive information before anyone even realizes there’s a problem. This speed makes James Bond seem outdated.

In 2011, then Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned of a potential “Network Pearl Harbor,” where an enemy could invade a digital system, shut down the power grid, or even control critical switches to derail trains carrying lethal chemicals. A 2014 report by Time magazine revealed 61,000 cybersecurity breaches in the U.S. that year, and the then National Intelligence Director labeled cybercrime as the top security threat facing the country.

Computer viruses, Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, and physical damage to power grids all point to the ongoing development of the fifth domain of warfare. Hacking is common in banks, hospitals, retail stores, and university campuses. But imagine the devastation if the central components of society were destroyed by even a conventional cybercrime. Now, imagine the impact if an entire nation’s military forces launched a coordinated attack.

Countries still keep their cards close, so no one knows exactly which nations have the capability to launch the largest cyberattacks. For the U.S., Russia is seen as the biggest threat. It has demonstrated both the ability and willingness to conduct digital attacks.

Russian influence had a major impact on the 2016 U.S. election, but this type of warfare is still relatively new. Without a Geneva Convention or clear treaties, it’s unclear how any country should interpret or respond to such attacks. Global leaders must consider the impact on ordinary citizens and how cyber warfare affects them.

Currently, there is no guiding principle for deciding when or whether to take action in response to cyber warfare. If those in power benefit from the attacks, or even plan them, what incentive do they have to retaliate? This only adds to the complexity of the situation.

If cyber warfare is still a lawless frontier, citizens will inevitably become victims. Our culture, economy, education, healthcare, livelihoods, and communication are all deeply tied to the internet. If an enemy wants to use traditional methods like bombings or chemical attacks, why not start with ransomware, freezing bank accounts, shutting down hospitals, and cutting off emergency services? This chaos would leave people unable to contact their families.

As cyber security expert and writer Alexander Klimberg explained to Vox, the destructive power of a comprehensive cyber attack on infrastructure is “equivalent to solar flares.” In short, it would be devastating.

A New Military Strategy

In the summer of 2016, an organization called “Shadow Brokers” began leaking highly classified information about the National Security Agency’s (NSA) cyber weapons, including those actively being developed. The NSA remains uncertain whether the leak came from an insider or a foreign entity within its Tailored Access Operations unit.

Regardless, this was unprecedented in U.S. history—a security breach in a department that was supposed to be the least vulnerable. Microsoft President Brad Smith was shocked by the severity of the breach, comparing it to a “Tomahawk missile being stolen from the army.” He published a detailed blog post stating that the U.S. government had failed to ensure information security.

The last time such a leak shocked the NSA was in 2013 when Edward Snowden exposed its surveillance activities. However, experts argue that the information stolen by Shadow Brokers was even more damaging. As the New York Times put it, if Snowden had revealed a battle plan, Shadow Brokers would have released the actual weapons.

This year, a ransomware named “WannaCry (Eternal Blue)” began spreading online, affecting Chinese universities and British hospitals. In April, telecom company IDW in Newark, New Jersey, suffered a similar attack. Its CEO, Goran Ben-Ohni, realized the attack was different from previous ones. Not only did it steal data from the databases it accessed, but it also stole the keys needed to access them. This meant hackers could monitor who accessed the information continuously.

“WannaCry” and the attacks on the Vanguard Company both relied on cyber weapons stolen and released by the Shadow Brokers. These weapons were used against the very governments that created them. “WannaCry” exploited the Windows operating system vulnerability “Eternal Blue,” spreading malware through unpatched servers. North Korea used it to infect 200,000 global servers in just 24 hours. The attack on Vanguard also used “Eternal Blue,” along with another weapon called “Double Pulsar,” which allowed hackers to penetrate systems without destroying them. These tools were designed for silent destruction, spreading quickly and undetected by antivirus software worldwide.

These weapons are powerful and dangerous, much like the ones the NSA intended to develop. Of course, the NSA didn’t want this to happen. As Ben-Ohni lamented to the New York Times, “You can’t catch it; it happens under our eyes.”

He said, “This world is not yet ready.”

The Best Defense

Ordinary people around the world may feel that their rights have been ignored due to the lack of preparedness by the government, but the fight against cyber warfare starts with us: first, understanding our relationship with the internet. Even if federal agencies don’t achieve the level of digital security that some critics hope for, individuals can still protect themselves.

Dr. Eric Cole, a cybersecurity expert, told Futurist Technology, “The first and most important step is to realize that this is a real threat and that it may happen.” He added that for non-experts, the best defense is to know where your electronic information is stored and to back up important data locally. Even cloud storage services, often touted as secure, are not immune to targeted attacks that could compromise the infrastructure or grid that supports them.

Cole told Futurist Science, “We often like to publish a lot of information and digitize everything. But you might want to ask yourself: Do I really want to provide this information?”

However, some experts believe that small-scale cyber attacks against U.S. corporations and citizens should not be considered acts of war. Professor Thomas Reed, a professor and writer, recently told the Boston Globe that the term “war” implies government involvement, resource transfer, and an escalation of the situation. In fact, this level of intensity might be counterproductive for small-scale attacks, as local authorities may be the most resistant to threats.

As humans evolve, so do the ways we try to destroy each other. The rise of the internet has given birth to a new form of warfare—one that is quieter and more subtle. One mode involves real-time remote distributed attacks and anonymous warfare. Another uses robots and drones as main forces, targeting our needs or deploying artificial intelligence as a military division.

Cyber warfare is not the same as nuclear weapons. Countries secretly develop nuclear arms, and if deployed, civilians suffer more than leaders. There is a concept of “mutual assured destruction,” and treaties require transparency in the storage and deployment of nuclear weapons. Maybe this applies to digital warfare as well?

We may predict the future of science and technology, but we can only guess how humans will use them.

Humans built airplanes, allowing them to fly above the clouds. Then, they used planes to drop bombs on each other.

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