This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race

Since the digital revolution of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, global society has become increasingly dependent on the connectivity of the internet and upon technologies such as computers and smartphones. This dynamic is especially prevalent in economically developed nations such as the USA and China, where vital public infrastructure and economic systems are managed and maintained via computerized systems. When digital technology is central to almost all aspects of life, cybersecurity becomes an increasingly significant concern. Data breaches, major hacks, and news of cyberattacks regularly make major news headlines, and this trend reflects the prominence of such issues in the public consciousness.

Vulnerabilities in computer software render the most important public and private systems vulnerable to infiltration or attack by hackers serving a wide range of hostile actors that include terrorist groups, enterprising criminals, and rival nation states. Cyberattacks that could disrupt or take down vital systems frequently threaten the quality of life of billions of people, and because devices such as smartphones can access the most intimate details of a person’s private life, the growing threat of cyberespionage enables governments and other powerful groups to encroach upon civil liberties and privacy to an extent that is unprecedented in all of human history.