Letters | Cyber threat is real

Cyber attacks across the world serve as a stark reminder that these types of attacks are no longer in the realm of science fiction. Cyberwar, compared to traditional warfare, is already in full progress — a prelude to full-scale war involving coded weapons that cannot be tracked, seen or heard. Two world wars were fought with tanks, aircraft, ships and bombs.

The next world war, which is in a high state of preparation, will witness combat with the potential to obliterate humanity on a vast scale, transcending geographical boundaries. Software will replace sonar, algorithms will replace radar, viruses will replace vehicles, binary code will replace bullets and bombs, and artificial intelligence will replace combat soldiers. The geopolitical implications of this kind of combat will propel the balance of power into a new dimension.

The victor will rule the world; the vanquished will be reduced to political subjugation. For the first time in human history, laws and agreements designed to restrain methods of war risk are becoming obsolete, as the attacker cannot be identified or accused of violating international humanitarian law. Unlike a nuclear weapon, which could kill almost everyone within a half-mile radius, the death toll from most cyberattacks would be slower.

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Cyberattackers have few inhibitions. It is far easier to disguise the source of a digital incursion than to identify where a missile was launched from. The nature of cyber warfare makes it a serious weapon of mass destruction that falls outside every arms control treaty.

The most concerning possibility is that an attack could happen by mistake or through electronic malfunction. It nearly happened during the Cold War. Something analogous could happen in the software and hardware of the digital realm.

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