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Thomas Rid

Cyber War Will Not Take Place Paperback – 11 April 2013

by Thomas Rid (Author)

4.4 64 ratings

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'Cyber war is coming,' announced a land- mark RAND report in 1993. In 2005, the U.S. Air Force boasted it would now fly, fight, and win in cyberspace, the 'fifth domain' of war- fare. This book takes stock, twenty years on: is cyber war really coming? Has war indeed entered the fifth domain? Cyber War Will Not Take Place cuts through the hype and takes a fresh look at cyber security. Thomas Rid argues that the focus on war and winning distracts from the real challenge of cyberspace: non-violent confrontation that may rival or even replace violence in surprising ways. The threat consists of three different vectors: espionage, sabotage, and subversion. The author traces the most significant hacks and attacks, exploring the full spectrum of case studies from the shadowy world of computer espionage and weaponised code. With a mix of technical detail and rigorous political analysis, the book explores some key ques- tions: What are cyber weapons? How have they changed the meaning of violence? How likely and how dangerous is crowd-sourced subversive activity? Why has there never been a lethal cyber attack against a country's critical infrastructure? How serious is the threat of 'pure' cyber espionage, of exfiltrating data without infiltrating humans first? And who is most vulnerable: which countries, industries, individuals?

Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
Publication date

11 April 2013
ISBN-10

1849042802
ISBN-13

978-1849042802
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Thomas Rid
283
Paperback
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Product description

Review

'In a new book, provocatively titled Cyber War Will Not Take Place, Rid argues that what we have seen so far in the cyber realm can t properly be classified as war at all. And, he and his allies suggest, in thinking of it that way, we re creating new international hazards and diverting attention from changes that might actually keep us safe. Rid represents one pole of an emerging debate, as the world's policy establishment grapples with how to think about virtual attacks. One side believes that to downplay them is dangerously naive that this latest weapon of war has to be treated with the same seriousness as conventional arms, even nuclear weapons. An international effort is now underway to codify international rules of war as they apply to cyberattacks, placing them on a continuum with conventional warfare. Rid s side of this debate, which includes both experts on cybersecurity and those given the task of designing the new weapons for cyberspace, argues that although the threat is real, in overstating it we re helping create a new kind of global risk. Framing cyberattacks as acts of war has already fueled escalation, as countries like Iran and China invest in their own offensive cyberwarfare capabilities. And the military's enthusiastic embrace of this new theater of war, stoked by public fear, could have dangerous consequences.' ----Boston Globe

'In Cyber War Will Not Take Place, Thomas Rid throws a well-timed bucket of cold water on an increasingly alarmist debate. Just as strategic bombing never fulfilled its promise, and even air power at its apogee -- Kosovo in 1999, or Libya two years ago -- only worked with old-fashioned boots on the ground, Rid argues that the promise of cyber war is equally illusory. . . What Rid does, with great skill, is to pivot the discussion away from cyber war and towards cyber weapons.' ----Financial Times

'Thomas Rid is a German-born academic, now at King s College London. He is one of Britain's leading authorities on, and sceptics about, cyber-warfare. His provocatively titled book attacks the hype and mystique about sabotage, espionage, subversion and other mischief on the internet. He agrees that these present urgent security problems. But he dislikes talk of warfare and the militarisation of the debate about dangers in cyberspace. Computer code can do lots of things, but it is not a weapon of war. He criticises the American air force for using a lobbying gimmick with talk of cyber as a fifth domain of warfare, after land, sea, air and space.' ----The Economist

About the Author

Thomas Rid is Reader in War Studies at King's College London. He is also a non-resident fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations in the School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd (11 April 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1849042802
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1849042802

Best Sellers Rank: 1,301,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 2,188 in Political Violence
- 26,756 in Warfare & Defence
- 47,140 in Military History (Books)

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4.4 64 ratings

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Gerald Wiley

Required Reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 April 2013

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Cogent, balanced, incredibly well informed and thought through.

Thomas Rid's work is both timely and up to date, including comment on, and analysis of, the APT1 report release by Mandiant in February 2013.

Rid helpfully classifies Cyber Attacks in to three sub-types: Subversion, Sabotage and Espionage. He provides a helpful framework for consideration and analysis of such attacks, and blows away many cobwebs and much of the lazy thinking that has become associated with the notion of 'Cyber War'. He also draws attention to the absence of violence (a pre-requisite for War as defined by Clausewitz) in almost all Cyber Attacks.

Of course the flaw in the book is also that it is predicated on Clausewitz's early 19th Century definition of war. Can't help but think he would define it differently were he alive today.....

As Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones has commented regarding the title of the book " I do so hope he's correct". And as Brendan Behan famously said "hope for the best, and prepare for the worst".

Required reading for all Information Security Professionals......

4 people found this helpful

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Nick Harbud

A superbly concise arguement from first principles

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 July 2013

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Starting with Clausewitz's definition of an act of war, this book assesses how effective software can be at either waging war in its own right, assisting more conventional arms in warlike action or in committing the war-related acts of sabotage, espionage and subversion. Its scope leaves no aspect of its subject or the participants untouched, be it the states who sponsor weaponised software, those who oppose the state or those who seek to thwart either of the first two.

The book contains many examples from the first days of the internet up to the modern day, but none are given any more prominence or detail than is required to support the main text. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

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domwho

A really good counterpoint to the current thinking on cyber security

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 February 2018

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This is an excellent analysis, that continues to challenge the current orthodoxy that we are awaiting a 'Cyber Pearl Harbour' Rid's analysis does not necessarily change the threat, but certainly places it in a much better context.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 November 2013

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Great insight into the cyberwar hype. The book provides excellent insight into the possibility of a cyber attack.. But also clears some if the hype surrounding the term.

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JohnMcC

A Good Review of The Cyber Threat

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2013

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Well researched, knowledgeably written, topical and thought provoking. There is a lot of hype about "cyber". This book cuts through to the key issues.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 January 2018

Thank you

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 January 2015

pertinent

A badly structured argument

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 October 2018

I read this book and the vital thing to realise at the very outside is the author builds their definitions poorly. The assumption about the elements which compromise warfare are overly simplistic, to the end that people actually fighting wars aren't using them.

Furthermore, the author doesn't seem to understand the capabilities and the nature of geopolitical threat leading to two critical assumptions, kinetic response is the only thing that defines war and that the threats can do that much damage to either kill people or engage a kinetic level effect. Also both wrong.

All in all, there are much more insightful and better informed books to read.

One person found this helpful

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Cyber War Will Not Take Place Paperback – 11 April 2013

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