Review: Cyber Warfare – Truth, Tactics, and Strategies

review cyber warfare

Dr. Chase Cunningham holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in computer science from Colorado Technical University and a B.S. from American Military University focused on counter-terrorism operations in cyberspace. He is a retired U.S. Navy chief with more than 20 years’ experience in cyber forensic and cyber analytic operations, and has spent time in work centers within the NSA, CIA, FBI, and other government agencies.

He has served as a director of cyber threat intelligence operations at Armor and was the computer network exploitation lead for Telecommunication Systems and the chief of cyber analytics for Decisive Analytics. He is currently a cybersecurity principal analyst at Forrester.

Cyber Warfare – Truth, Tactics, and Strategies

To help the reader understand the scale of today’s cyber threats, the author explains the history behind them and how they kept pace with the evolution of information and communications technologies, as they became an essential part of out everyday lives.

Many future battles will be fought with cyber weapons, narrowing the resources and capabilities gap that long existed between rich and poor nations. All of them can now effectively bring their enemy down.

The author describes the flaws of the networks we have built, why cybersecurity is a never ending pursuit and specifically why perimeter-based security is no longer a good option in the era of remote working and BYOD.

He digs deep into the reality of today, from the use of social media with malicious intent by exploiting the power of influence, to the abuse of deepfakes, AI, ML, and misinformation.

He emphasizes the importance of strategy in cyber warfare. Just like warfare in the physical space, a change in tactics is essential. One must adapt to new circumstances posed by the cyber enemy.

To help the reader better understand this issue, he correlates cyber attack tactics and techniques with real life (military) examples from the Iraq War.

The author also illustrates tools and technologies that can be useful to boost the security posture of an organization and help respond quickly and effectively to a potential cyber threat.

Though not in the traditional sense, this is a war, and only those who are well prepared and have a good strategy in place will be left standing.

The book ends with a list of major cyber incidents throughout 2019.

Who is it for?

Cybersecurity experience is assumed, so the book is primarily aimed at cybersecurity professionals who are interested in gaining knowledge about how to improve their organization’s cyber resilience and be prepared for possible threats.

It’s also a great read for those who are concerned about their security in the digital world, especially when it comes to social media. It’s an issue that affects all of us and the author has provided essential information in a very comprehensive way.

Don't miss