The Battle for Your Computer

CHAPTER 2The Keyboard War—How Global Militaries Exploited the New Domain

After the attack on the Ukrainian electricity company, with which Chapter 1 began, Ukraine was quick to accuse Russia of leaving 200,000 of its people without power for hours on a freezing winter's day. Experts agreed that the evidence pointed to Russia, which made sense in the context of its relations with Ukraine. This book was completed as the war in Ukraine still raged with full force, and nobody could predict when and how it might end. One thing, however, is clear: for years now, cyberspace has been a domain of war between Russia and Ukraine, just like the other traditional domains of war.

Humanity's most familiar domain has always been land. That is where humans have always lived, settled down, evolved, and fought their wars. But early in its development, humanity also discovered the sea as another important domain through which people and goods could be moved. Maritime warfare—whether organized or as piracy—intensified as a result. The invention of the airplane by Wilbur and Orville Wright in 1903 created another brand‐new domain of human activity, which was swiftly harnessed for warfare.

Cyberspace confronts humanity with a challenge similar to the challenges posed by land, air, and sea. On the one hand, human living standards are soaring beyond all recognition, just as the discovery of the traditional domains opened up new opportunities, but at the same time, humanity has also become exposed to ...