In the last decade or so, the term “cyberwar” has advanced from the realm of science fiction into a disturbing reality.
For all the digital destruction and chaos caused by NotPetya, the attack on shipping giant Maersk and pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck, the malware also provided a dangerous model for the next cyberwar tactics.
The rapidly expanding reach of hackers to previously “air-gapped” networks means that the next cyberwar could spread even faster and more decisively - and be even harder to control.
After US cyberwar attacks took out Iran’s uranium-enrichment facilities in what was reported at the time as an Israeli operation, Iran retaliated by hacking into US banks and taking their websites offline.
Since then, America has stood largely unchallenged, with North Korea, Russia, and Iran all launching destructive cyberattacks with seeming impunity.
That’s led to US cybercommand successfully pushing for more aggressively preemptive hacking authorities, which could trigger a spiral of increasingly destructive cyberattacks.