麻豆传媒

IN LATE June, I was leaving for a flight from Kiev鈥檚 Boryspil Airport as news broke that Ukraine was the victim of another massive cyberattack. ATMs, gas pumps and supermarket checkouts were frozen. Government computers appeared to be seized by ransomware. Chernobyl鈥檚 radiation monitoring system was affected. There were reports that the attack had grounded planes at the airport. Not that I could get there: I couldn鈥檛 seem to catch a cab on a single ride-sharing app. The attack spread with frightening speed, but I eventually made it to Boryspil, where everything seemed to be functioning normally. Frankly, though, the thought of hurtling through the air in a metal tube guided by computers during a global cyberattack did give me pause.

It鈥檚 this type of worldwide cyber-chaos 鈥� the type that could down airplanes, turn off respirators and plunge millions into darkness 鈥� that Alexander Klimburg warns of in The Darkening Web. And it鈥檚 much closer to crippling our societies than world leaders would like to believe.

Deadly ignorance

Klimburg, a strategic analyst in this field, compares cyberwarfare to the threat posed by nuclear weapons. But there is one critical difference: while 鈥渢he horror of the nuclear mushroom cloud [has been] burned into the minds of a generation of decision makers鈥�, there is little understanding within government, never mind outside it, of the consequences of all-out cyberwar. Without such a basic understanding, along with a more transparent policy, we risk being plunged into total cyber-conflict.

Having put the fear of God in us, Klimburg tells the story of the internet: how it was built and how it is governed 鈥� as a way of asserting US dominance, according to a few nations. He also talks about hackers, who are not the 鈥�400-pound guys鈥� of President Trump鈥檚 imagination, but complex beings who just as often work for governments as against them. We find out how they exploit the internet鈥檚 vulnerabilities.

One of the key vulnerabilities in US cyber-policy, Klimburg says, is 鈥渃yber-innuendo鈥�. If governments were teenage boys, Washington would be the kid boasting about his latest escapades with the prettiest girl in class. His embellishments on a kernel of truth are meant to inspire shock and awe, but succeed in egging other boys on to sharing or pursuing even fiercer strategies of their own. Information about US cyber-dominance is established through strategic leaks, but these only serve to encourage actors like Russia and China to beef up their own capabilities and train their sights on the US and, increasingly, on their own people.

In China, for example, the Great Firewall 鈥減rotects鈥� citizens from problematic content, and political discussions are deflected by government contractors. Citizens鈥� behaviour on social media is meticulously monitored and may soon be assigned a government 鈥渟ocial credit score鈥�.

The Russian cyberthreat is, by contrast, meant 鈥渘ot to compete with the United States and the West, but somehow to catastrophically weaken them鈥�. Klimburg does a fine job explaining the various structures within Russia鈥檚 security services that handle cyberwarfare. His definition encompasses not only the hacking to which the West has now grown accustomed, but also the widespread information warfare equally capable of influencing policy and populations.

Despite being well aware of the dangers of Russian information war, Klimburg falls victim to it, referring to the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine as an 鈥渋nsurgency鈥� and resulting civil war鈥�. This is exactly the narrative that Russia peddled after it invaded Ukraine鈥檚 sovereign territory, sending troops, weapons and money to so-called separatists in the Donbas for three years, at a cost of 10,000 lives. With his knowledge of Russia, Klimburg should know better than to buy into this lexicon.

Klimburg鈥檚 warnings regarding Russian cyber-aspirations, however, are on the money. He does not think the US election was turned around solely by Russia鈥檚 campaigns and incursions. Still, his recommendations might have helped the Obama administration retaliate while evading charges of partisanship. Klimburg argues that governments should be clear and transparent about what types of cyberattacks they face and what 鈥渄eterrence by cyber-means鈥� should entail.

鈥淚n China, behaviour on social media may soon be assigned a government 鈥榮ocial credit score鈥欌��

Time treats books in strange ways. Seven months into the Trump administration, and , The Darkening Web feels less like a work of advocacy, more like a cry for help. If only we had known, perhaps we could have staged an intervention.

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淓nding the world with a nod and a wink鈥�