A Fierce Domain: Conflict in Cyberspace, 1986-2012 is the first book of its kind- a comprehensive, accessible history of cyber conflict. A Fierce Domain reaches back to look at the major «wake-up calls,» the major conflicts that have forced the realization that cyberspace is a harsh place where nations and others contest for superiority. The book identifies the key lessons for policymakers, and, most importantly, where these lessons greatly differ from popular myths common in military and political circles. (Published on June1, 2013)
Historical perspective on cyber. July 26, 2013
By Alex Guarino
Format:Paperback
Atlantic Council CCSA 2013 – 352 Pages – $ 24.00This book, edited by Jason Healey, currently director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative of the Atlantic Council, provides us with the first military history of cyber conflict. A study of this kind was still missing and provides an historical perspective on cyber conflict that will help policymakers and military leaders to learn from the past (one of the main points of the book is that it IS possible to learn from history in this domain, a point not so obvious given the usual focus on technologies in this field). The work goes on to debunk a few other myths about cyber conflict as we will see.
«A fierce domain» complements a chronological history of cyber conflicts from 1986 to 2012 with three chapter of in-depth case studies of famous conflicts, from the «Cuckoo’s Egg» and Morris worm in the 1980s, on to SOLAR SUNRISE and Moonlight Maze, the Estonian and Georgian incidents in the first decade of the century and finally to Stuxnet.
The history of cyber conflict is interpreted by the author as divided into three periods: the «Realization» (from the beginnings to 1998), the «Take off» of organizations and concepts (from 1998 to 2003) and the «Militarization» (from 2003 onward). This interpretation will maybe be challenged in the future but it is a very useful tool that put for the first time some order into a very fragmented and somewhat obscure domain -obscure also because a lot of information is probably still classified.
Several first hand contributes («In their own words») from key people involved in the various U.S. organizations involved in cyber along the years round up the content and also give the reader a «sneak peek» behind the scenes .
Healey draws three insightful conclusions I agree with:
– Cyber conflict hasn’t really changed that much in the time frame studied, if you go beyond technical details, and many lessons learned in the 1980s are stil valid today. The implication is that more high level analysis is needed in the study of cyber conflict -a level of abstraction above mere technology.
– Until now both the probability and impact of cyber conflicts was negligible, but hyped beyond measure. My observation: there are clear motivation for that, especially when the hype and scare-mongering is made by governments, both economical and political (control of the citizens, see PRISM).
To sum up, «A Fierce Domain» is a must-read for anybody interested in cyber conflicts, it fills a void and reads in places like a thriller; its only limit (acknowledged by the Editor) is that is is mainly a U.S. Story, focusing on U.S. Organization from a U.S. point of view. I guess this is inevitable, given the authors’ background and the fact that the United States are the country most advanced in this field and also relatively transparent… more reviews in Amazon