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.
This book is intended as a textbook for graduate classes on the topic. It lends itself to class discussions, while teaching students necessary background information and key lessons of cyber conflict’s past.
Cyber “Wake-up Calls”
- Morris Worm
- ELIGIBLE RECEIVER and SOLAR SUNRISE
- MOONLIGHT MAZE
- Chinese Espionage
- Estonia and Georgia
- BUCKSHOT YANKEE
- OLYMPIC GAMES/Stuxnet
Lessons & Findings From Our Cyber Past
From the history of cyber conflict, key lessons and findings clearly emerge and each of these carries significant policy implications for cyber defenders and policymakers today:
- Cyber conflict has changed only gradually over time; thus, historical lessons derived from past cases are still relevant today (though these are usually ignored).
- The probability and consequence of disruptive cyber conflict have often been hyped, while the real impacts of cyber intrusions have been consistently underappreciated.
- The more strategically significant a cyber conflict is, the more similar it is to conflicts on the land, in the air, and on the sea—with one critical exception.
Despite the popular conception that the nature of cyber “war must constantly change with every new technology, this book makes the case that the situation is happily much different. The lessons from yesterday are not trivia—they remain eminently useful.
Purchase your copy of A Fierce Domain: Conflict in Cyberspace, 1986-2012.