The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age

by David E. Sanger

The first step is to recognize the folly of going on offense unless we have a good defense. We would be lucky to seal up three-quarters of the glaring vulnerabilities in American networks today. But the best way to deter attack—and counterattack—is deterrence by denial. That requires a major national effort, far beyond the civil defense projects of the 1950s when the United States built a highway system that could evacuate civilians and dug shelters in large cities. A parallel effort to secure America’s cyber infrastructure has often been discussed, but it has never happened. It is complicated by the fact that the main targets of attack are in private hands.