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The Perfect Weapon

Camy R Ruck -

THE BOOK IN 3 SENTENCES

David Sanger “The Perfect Weapon” gives a riveting and insightful account on how state and non-state actors have used cyberweapons to create chaos on American and Western infrastructures, governments, and societies.  The book highlights the tactics Iran, Russian, China, North Korea, and ISIS/Al-Quaeda have used in cyberwars, and American government lack of comprehensive response to those attacks.  “The Perfect Weapon” leaves the reader with possible strategies the international community can use to counter the growing power of cyberweapons.

MY TOP 3 QUOTES

  • Cyberweapons are so cheap to develop and so easy to hide that they have proven irresistible.  And American officials are discovering that in a world in which almost everything is connected - phones, cars, electrical grids, and satellites - everything can be disrupted, if not destroyed.
  • The challenge is to think about how to defend a civilian infrastructure that the United States government does not control, and private networks where companies and American citizens often don’t want their government lurking - even for the purpose of defending them.
  • We need to rethink the wisdom of reflexive secrecy around our cyber capabilities.

THE PERFECT WEAPON: WAR, SABOTAGE, AND FEAR IN THE CYBER AGE

By David E. Sanger

400 pp. Crown; Reprint edition (2018), $14.99.

Edward Snowden’s “Permanent Record” review that I did a few weeks ago is still permeating through my head, as well as my critique of the lack of accountability from his part of the geopolitical implications of his released of classified material.  David Sanger’s “The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age” does an excellent demonstration of how cyberweapons are being used to destabilize democracies, economies, and societies by state and non-state actors.  Sanger’s explains the tactics of Russian, Iran, China, and North Korea in a detailed manner to demonstrate how each state, often learning from the mistakes of others, have been able to use cyberweapons for their own benefit in the new state of international wars.  

Russia was able to use Ukraines as a “petri dish” before Russian hackers infiltrated State Department emails, Democratic National Committee emails during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and ultimately the election infrastructure. China had a fleet of hackers targeting American intelligence, intellectual properties, and Silicon Valley’s commercial information.  North Korea's growing cyber power was demonstrated when they hacked Sony emails, over Seth Rogen’s The Interview, and the Wannacry ransomware that created chaos by its randonness.  ISIS and Al-Qaeda use the internet as a tool for recruitment and training material.

While “The Perfect Weapon” does a critical job detailing the use of cybersecurity, allocating separate chapters for each country mentioned, the book also discusses the lack of robust and coherent reaction from the American government.  Sanger’s noted, and rightfully, that those countries in particular, can use cyber attacks against the United States without the fear of retribution.  The book expands that notion with the difficult questions government lawyers have to make as to whether one can use the rules of war for cyberattacks.  If Russia crippled the electrical grid from Boston to Washington, DC, is that the same as if they hit us with a nuclear weapon?  If the United States has intelligence that North Korea was going to infiltrate the NSA secured systems, is the government allowed to do a preemptive strike?  Those are fascinating questions the book highlights of the changing nature of current and future warfare, and how domestic and international rules of law have not been updated to meet those realities.  

“The Perfect Weapon” leaves the reader with the grim note that “we have yet not seen the worse,” I appreciate that Sanger gives reflective insight as to what some possible solutions might be.  Sanger highlights the need for a good defense, having a playbook and sticking to it, and rethinking the secretive nature around cyber capabilities.  The later note, one that Sanger strongly emphasized, is for the American government to begin to publicly call out adversaries by their names when they embark on cyberterrorism.  Vacillating between making the names of those responsible only detracts from the perpetrators accountability.  

In a world that is more complex and dangerous, cyberweapons make the world even more insecure.  The reality is that cyberweapons are becoming more sophisticated each day, and the ever evolving nature of hackers creates a convoluted mêlée for military strategies and political entities to solve.  “The Perfect Weapon” left me with a sense of forlorn, which I am not sure was the intent of the writer.  However, the book is a timely account of how states and nonstate actors are reinventing the image of wars in a way that affects millions of citizens in this internet connected world.

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