Evaluating Cyber war

Abstract

Richard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake’s book, Cyber war, claims to identify a new threat and vulnerability in the United States. By examining the points they make and evaluating them in the context of the first cyber attack, STUXNET, we shall conclude that the technical argument is correct; however the overall argument is incomplete. What they fail to emphasize is the amount of human intelligence involved in committing a successful cyber attack, and the extent to which having intelligence operations greatly enhances a state's cyber capabilities.