9Independent Cyber Operators
9.1 Independent Cyber Operations
Independent cyber operations are the original form of cyber hacking, with individual operators testing their skills in order to test both their personal capabilities and the limits of the available technology. The first widely documented hack, pre dating the Internet, was the Morris Worm (1988), taking down the entire University affiliated network.
(Microsoft, 2022)
Nation‐state cyber operations include the research, the development, and the clandestine service components introduced in Figure 4.1. A mainstay of nation‐state cyber operations is that they are working toward a policy‐driven purpose, even if it is theft for a nascent weapons program (i.e., DPRK and China) or surveillance of its own citizens (i.e., Russia and Iran). As potentially dangerous as these nation‐state capabilities have proven to be, they are still within a disciplined governance structure and can be subject to sanctions and public outrage. A lone hacker is potentially far more dangerous with the same sets of tools.
Julian Assange, for example, created the news with the release of his “Collateral Murder” video, the Afghan War Logs (2010) (Leigh, 2010), and the release of State Department cables, which influenced the 2011 Arab Spring (DoJ, 2019). Wikileaks provided tangible examples of political and personal cyber effects. And, while Mr. Assange’s cyber career effectively ended with his taking refuge in the Ecuadoran Embassy, in London (2012), ...