Review: The Perfect Weapon
David Sanger has produced a deep look at how the political and policy world sees computer and network espionage and sabotage. People inside and outside that world call that “cyber” but that makes me and other tech weenies of my cohort a little queasy. My queasiness aside, these technologies are commanding people’s attention.
Sanger does some remarkable research and journalism in tracking publicly revealed and discovered uses of computer and network espionage tech. His work shows how this stuff is live and in use. On one hand, people use whatever tools they have or can make when they want to spy; on the other the level of technical sophistication is surprising. Weapon is worth reading to get that intuition.
I do think that there are a couple angles from which readers – like me – should be skeptical. One is the aura of secrecy and awe that reporters and managers of these technologies wrap them in. Some of that is because the mindset of using technology outside of its specification is unnatural to a lot of people. In Zen and the Art, Robert Persig explained how beer cans are also essential repair elements. That mentality pervades the thinking of people who make “cyber” work and it feels like magic until you develop the technique. It’s the difference between watching a magic show and watching a magic show as Penn or Teller. Easier to say than do.
Holding the secrets as secrets and wrapping the technology in some awe helps with getting funding, so there’s a significant incentive to do so. I do think that research and development funding inside and outside the government can use the funding, so I agree with that tactic to some extent. I worry when it’s not a tactic. People who don’t understand the ideas tend to underestimate it; extra awe is a useful corrective. Readers who want to really understand the underlying technology should adjust filters accordingly.
Sanger’s invaluable contribution is framing the human elements. Who funded what and when. Who wound up in the papers and who didn’t. How the people who move armies and conventional espionage resources view them. For me, that’s an extremely illuminating view of the world.
Strongly Recommended.