The Darkening Web: The War for Cyberspace

The complex art of cyberwarfare and its global arena get a thorough examination by Klimburg, a cybersecurity expert at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. After an accessible explanation of the origins and underpinnings of the internet, Klimburg segues to an in-depth discussion of the major players in cyberwarfare—primarily the United States, Russia, and China—and then discusses his vision and fears for the future, depicting a chilling portrait of the interdependency of the cyberspace and its emergence as a domain for political conflict. Once Klimburg moves into policy and theory, his arguments get a little more abstract and may fly over the heads of those less grounded in the matter; he admits as much with a nod to the “virtual cyber veil of esoteric detail and complexity that has traditionally made this topic difficult even for experienced policy makers to grasp.” The book serves as an excellent primer on cyberwarfare, especially useful in the context of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as accusations of Russian interference continue to make headlines. (July)