New York Times Washington correspondent David Sanger provides an informative look into cyber warfare, how it's been used, being used, and could be used in the future in his book "The Perfect Weapon". It's a good update and follow-on book to other books related to the topic of cyber crimes such as Fred Kaplan's book "Dark Territory", which really points out how susceptible all our internet computer networks are, and Marc Goodman's book "Future Crimes", which details how we're all susceptible to cyber hacking.

Few of us would have difficulty remembering reports of hackers stealing personal data, passwords, and banking records. We've heard recently about foreign influence on social media to influence elections, and hackers stealing corporate information and even Pentagon system data. And most of us have heard of the Wannacry ransomware attacks against computers in the U.S. and worldwide. On an even more significant level, we may also recall a number of cyber attacks on different countries, including the U.S. & Israeli clandestine cyber attack on Iran's nuclear centrifuges, North Korea's cyber thefts from financial institutions in Bangladesh, Russia's cyber attacks against Estonia and Georgia and taking down the electrical grid in the Ukraine.

"The Perfect Weapon" discusses a number of these earlier attacks, explains their significance, and tells how cyber warfare has become such a great threat to our national security. Attacks against banks, the electrical grid, communications systems, dams, industrial operations, and even military weapon controls are possible. Our defense against attacks such as these are poor, and competing nations including Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea have all demonstrated the skill and capability to make attacks such as these. The fact that the originator of the attack is easily masked, and that the attack can begin without knowledge or warning make these especially dangerous. Kaplan points out how important this cyber threat has become, and hopefully this book will raise consciousness everywhere in the Country to address this challenge. ( )