The Hacker And The State

The threat of cyberwar can feel very Hollywood: nuclear codes hacked, power plants melting down, cities burning. In reality, state-sponsored hacking is covert, insidious, and constant. It is also much harder to prevent. Ben Buchanan reveals the cyberwar that's already here, reshaping the global contest for geopolitical advantage.

“A must-read...It reveals important truths.” —Vint Cerf, Internet pioneer “One of the finest books on information security published so far in this century—easily accessible, tightly argued, superbly well-sourced, intimidatingly perceptive.” —Thomas Rid, author of Active Measures Cyber attacks are less destructive than we thought they would be—but they are more pervasive, and much harder to prevent. With little fanfare and only occasional scrutiny, they target our banks, our tech and health systems, our democracy, and impact every aspect of our lives. Packed with insider information based on interviews with key players in defense and cyber security, declassified files, and forensic analysis of company reports, The Hacker and the State explores the real geopolitical competition of the digital age and reveals little-known details of how China, Russia, North Korea, Britain, and the United States hack one another in a relentless struggle for dominance. It moves deftly from underseas cable taps to underground nuclear sabotage, from blackouts and data breaches to election interference and billion-dollar heists. Ben Buchanan brings to life this continuous cycle of espionage and deception, attack and counterattack, destabilization and retaliation. Quietly, insidiously, cyber attacks have reshaped our national-security priorities and transformed spycraft and statecraft. The United States and its allies can no longer dominate the way they once did. From now on, the nation that hacks best will triumph. “A helpful reminder...of the sheer diligence and seriousness of purpose exhibited by the Russians in their mission.” —Jonathan Freedland, New York Review of Books “The best examination I have read of how increasingly dramatic developments in cyberspace are defining the ‘new normal’ of geopolitics in the digital age.” —General David Petraeus, former Director of the CIA “Fundamentally changes the way we think about cyber operations from ‘war’ to something of significant import that is not war—what Buchanan refers to as ‘real geopolitical competition.’” —Richard Harknett, former Scholar-in-Residence at United States Cyber Command

"One of the finest books on information security published so far in this century--easily accessible, tightly argued, superbly well-sourced, intimidatingly perceptive." --Thomas Rid, author of Active Measures "The best examination I have read of how increasingly dramatic developments in cyberspace are defining the 'new normal' of geopolitics in the digital age." --General David Petraeus, former Director of the CIA "A helpful reminder...of the sheer diligence and seriousness of purpose exhibited by the Russians in their mission." --Jonathan Freedland, New York Review of Books Cyber attacks are less destructive than we anticipated, more pervasive, and much harder to prevent. With little fanfare and even less scrutiny, they target our banks, our tech and health systems, our democracy, and impact every aspect of our lives. Packed with insider information based on interviews, declassified files, and forensic analysis of company reports, The Hacker and the State explores the real geopolitical competition of the digital age and reveals little-known details of how China, Russia, North Korea, Britain, and the United States hack one another in a relentless struggle for dominance. It moves deftly from underseas cable taps to underground nuclear sabotage, from blackouts and data breaches to election interference and billion-dollar heists. Ben Buchanan brings to life this continuous cycle of espionage and deception, attack and counterattack, destabilization and retaliation. Quietly, insidiously, cyberhacks have reshaped our national-security priorities and transformed spycraft and statecraft.

How hackers and hacking moved from being a target of the state to a key resource for the expression and deployment of state power. In this book, Luca Follis and Adam Fish examine the entanglements between hackers and the state, showing how hackers and hacking moved from being a target of state law enforcement to a key resource for the expression and deployment of state power. Follis and Fish trace government efforts to control the power of the internet; the prosecution of hackers and leakers (including such well-known cases as Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and Anonymous); and the eventual rehabilitation of hackers who undertake “ethical hacking” for the state. Analyzing the evolution of the state's relationship to hacking, they argue that state-sponsored hacking ultimately corrodes the rule of law and offers unchecked advantage to those in power, clearing the way for more authoritarian rule. Follis and Fish draw on a range of methodologies and disciplines, including ethnographic and digital archive methods from fields as diverse as anthropology, STS, and criminology. They propose a novel “boundary work” theoretical framework to articulate the relational approach to understanding state and hacker interactions advanced by the book. In the context of Russian bot armies, the rise of fake news, and algorithmic opacity, they describe the political impact of leaks and hacks, hacker partnerships with journalists in pursuit of transparency and accountability, the increasingly prominent use of extradition in hacking-related cases, and the privatization of hackers for hire.

Cyber Mercenaries explores how and why states use hackers as proxies to project power through cyberspace.

Publisher Description

In this updated edition of The Hacked World Order, cybersecurity expert Adam Segal offers unmatched insight into the new, opaque global conflict that is transforming geopolitics. For more than three hundred years, the world wrestled with conflicts between nation-states, which wielded military force, financial pressure, and diplomatic persuasion to create "world order." But in 2012, the involvement of the US and Israeli governments in Operation "Olympic Games," a mission aimed at disrupting the Iranian nuclear program through cyberattacks, was revealed; Russia and China conducted massive cyber-espionage operations; and the world split over the governance of the Internet. Cyberspace became a battlefield. Cyber warfare demands that the rules of engagement be completely reworked and all the old niceties of diplomacy be recast. Many of the critical resources of statecraft are now in the hands of the private sector, giant technology companies in particular. In this new world order, Segal reveals, power has been well and truly hacked.

Cutting-edge models for proactive cybersecurity, applying AI, learning, and network analysis to information mined from hacker communities.