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The Hacked World Order: How Nations Fight, Trade, Maneuver, and Manipulate in the Digital Age
For more than three hundred years, the world wrestled with conflicts that arose between nation-states. Nation-states wielded military force, financial pressure, and diplomatic persuasion to create “world order.” Even after the end of the Cold War, the elements comprising world order remained essentially unchanged.
But 2012 marked a transformation in geopolitics and the tactics of both the established powers and smaller entities looking to challenge the international community. That year, the US government revealed its involvement in Operation “Olympic Games,” a mission aimed at disrupting the Iranian nuclear program through cyberattacks; Russia and China conducted massive cyber-espionage operations; and the world split over the governance of the Internet. Cyberspace became a battlefield.
Cyber conflict is hard to track, often delivered by proxies, and has outcomes that are hard to gauge. It demands that the rules of engagement be completely reworked and all the old niceties of diplomacy be recast. Many of the critical resources of statecraft are now in the hands of the private sector, giant technology companies in particular. In this new world order, cybersecurity expert Adam Segal reveals, power has been well and truly hacked.
But 2012 marked a transformation in geopolitics and the tactics of both the established powers and smaller entities looking to challenge the international community. That year, the US government revealed its involvement in Operation “Olympic Games,” a mission aimed at disrupting the Iranian nuclear program through cyberattacks; Russia and China conducted massive cyber-espionage operations; and the world split over the governance of the Internet. Cyberspace became a battlefield.
Cyber conflict is hard to track, often delivered by proxies, and has outcomes that are hard to gauge. It demands that the rules of engagement be completely reworked and all the old niceties of diplomacy be recast. Many of the critical resources of statecraft are now in the hands of the private sector, giant technology companies in particular. In this new world order, cybersecurity expert Adam Segal reveals, power has been well and truly hacked.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published February 2, 2016
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619 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 21, 2019
As I write this John Bolton and Trump seem to be planning a major war with Iran. They are not paying attention to the incredible damage that can be done by state-sponsored or even independent actors to infrastructure by cyber-attacks. Iran caused millions in damage to Saudi oilfield computers; Russia virtually shut down Estonia for more than a week to punish them for their support of Ukraine; the U.S. and Israel wrecked havoc on Iranian centrifuges with a cleverly designed malicious worm; Iran caused millions in damages to Sheldon Adelson's empire after he made injudicious remarks regarding nuclear war and Iran; the list goes on and on.
The web is used to wage war and spy on, coerce, and damage other countries. Israel and the U.S. is want to derail the Iranian nuclear weapons program. India wants to prevent Pakistani terrorists from using smartphones to coordinate attacks. Brazil has plans to lay new fiber cables and develop satellite links so its Internet traffic no longer has to pass through Miami. China does not want to be dependent on the West for its technology needs. These new digital conflicts pose no physical threat—no one has ever died from a cyber-attack—but they serve to both threaten and defend the integrity of complex systems like power grids, financial institutions, and security networks.
What makes these attacks so problematic is that they can be designed to hide the source and can be initiated from virtually anywhere. The U.S. is so dependent on the Internet that even the slightest upheaval in some router farm could make bank deposits unavailable, the electrical grid unreliable, just to mention a few potential problems. State-backed hacking initiatives can shut down, sabotage trade strategies, steal intellectual property, sow economic chaos, and paralyze whole countries.
Segal insists that MAD (mutually assured destruction - the bedrock of nuclear war prevention) applies here as well, i.e., that countries would be afraid of massive retaliation were they to engage in widespread harm to another country. Insidious targeted attacks could be more useful and determining where they are coming from is often a laborious and time-consuming process.
Hacking tools themselves can come back to haunt their creators. "Cyber-security firm Symantec discovered that Chinese hacking group, APT 3 acquired National Security Agency (NSA) hacking tools used against them in 2016 to target U.S. allies. APT 3 is responsible for various attacks on the United States and has been tracked by the NSA for over a decade. Symantec does not believe the group stole the U.S. code, but rather acquired it from an NSA attack on its computers. APT 3 then used the hacking tools in cyber-attacks involving five countries in Europe and Asia. This is not the first time U.S. agencies’ cyber weapons have fallen into the wrong hands." (from Adam Segal's blog, May 10, 2019) Those hacking tools remain viable almost indefinitely and are impossible to eradicate
The issues raised by Segal are mind-boggling. The cyber-attack by the North Koreans for example were supposedly in retaliation for SONY's production of a sophomoric comedy ridiculing the North Korean leader. 200 TB of emails and information was retrieved and then used as blackmail to force SONY to not release the movie. What role should states play in such an attack. For that matter what state did SONY belong too? They are a multi-national corporation. What nation should be responsible for its defense?
The attack on Estonia by the Russians in 2007 raises additional issues. Russia (or its non-state actors) complained about the removal of a statue in Tallinn. Estonia refused to back down and soon a huge denial of service attack began that virtually shut down the country for about three weeks. Estonia is one of the most wired countries in the world having decided following the fall of the Soviet Union that it would be the most effective and economical way to build infrastructure in the new country. They had a strong cadre of programmers and IT people. Access to the Internet is considered a basic human right there. Western and Estonian analysts were confident the attacks came from a Russian source but were they state coordinated or simply vandals. And since Estonia was a member of NATO, what was NATO's responsibility in helping t defend against an attack on Estonian infrastructure? Ultimately, several western countries helped in thwarting and reducing the effects of the attacks and the resulting permanent damage was minimal, but for a while the country was at a virtual standstill. The Estonian response has been to develop a large volunteer (larger than their army) group of IT specialists who help to defend their cyber infrastructure.
In the DDOS attacks on Georgia, the Russians claimed these were independent folks just wanting to express their opinions. So the freedom to launch cyber-attacks has now morphed into freedom of expression.The situation there was different, everyone having learned from Estonia and Georgian traffic was routed through the U.S. with help from Poland and Estonia. Whether that made the U.S. complicit in the conflict or not was problematic.
Hacking of social media has become extremely sophisticated and the U.S. is woefully behind except as used by a certain U.S politician who dominates the Twitter world. The technique is to drown out the opposition. China used massive troll tweets and bots to overwhelm any discussion of opposition to their regime in Tibet. The Russians spread disinformation, anything to provoke and incite assorted groups. The idea is to confuse and promote their POV to the exclusion of others while preventing any kind of rational or reasonable debate on any issue. Doctored photos are spread about the opposition and soon it becomes impossible to separate reality from the simulated.
Ultimately Segal is optimistic, forecasting that if not pacific, the world will at least have come to terms with cyberspace and information will flow freer and be less dangerous. I remain more skeptical.
The web is used to wage war and spy on, coerce, and damage other countries. Israel and the U.S. is want to derail the Iranian nuclear weapons program. India wants to prevent Pakistani terrorists from using smartphones to coordinate attacks. Brazil has plans to lay new fiber cables and develop satellite links so its Internet traffic no longer has to pass through Miami. China does not want to be dependent on the West for its technology needs. These new digital conflicts pose no physical threat—no one has ever died from a cyber-attack—but they serve to both threaten and defend the integrity of complex systems like power grids, financial institutions, and security networks.
What makes these attacks so problematic is that they can be designed to hide the source and can be initiated from virtually anywhere. The U.S. is so dependent on the Internet that even the slightest upheaval in some router farm could make bank deposits unavailable, the electrical grid unreliable, just to mention a few potential problems. State-backed hacking initiatives can shut down, sabotage trade strategies, steal intellectual property, sow economic chaos, and paralyze whole countries.
Segal insists that MAD (mutually assured destruction - the bedrock of nuclear war prevention) applies here as well, i.e., that countries would be afraid of massive retaliation were they to engage in widespread harm to another country. Insidious targeted attacks could be more useful and determining where they are coming from is often a laborious and time-consuming process.
Hacking tools themselves can come back to haunt their creators. "Cyber-security firm Symantec discovered that Chinese hacking group, APT 3 acquired National Security Agency (NSA) hacking tools used against them in 2016 to target U.S. allies. APT 3 is responsible for various attacks on the United States and has been tracked by the NSA for over a decade. Symantec does not believe the group stole the U.S. code, but rather acquired it from an NSA attack on its computers. APT 3 then used the hacking tools in cyber-attacks involving five countries in Europe and Asia. This is not the first time U.S. agencies’ cyber weapons have fallen into the wrong hands." (from Adam Segal's blog, May 10, 2019) Those hacking tools remain viable almost indefinitely and are impossible to eradicate
The issues raised by Segal are mind-boggling. The cyber-attack by the North Koreans for example were supposedly in retaliation for SONY's production of a sophomoric comedy ridiculing the North Korean leader. 200 TB of emails and information was retrieved and then used as blackmail to force SONY to not release the movie. What role should states play in such an attack. For that matter what state did SONY belong too? They are a multi-national corporation. What nation should be responsible for its defense?
The attack on Estonia by the Russians in 2007 raises additional issues. Russia (or its non-state actors) complained about the removal of a statue in Tallinn. Estonia refused to back down and soon a huge denial of service attack began that virtually shut down the country for about three weeks. Estonia is one of the most wired countries in the world having decided following the fall of the Soviet Union that it would be the most effective and economical way to build infrastructure in the new country. They had a strong cadre of programmers and IT people. Access to the Internet is considered a basic human right there. Western and Estonian analysts were confident the attacks came from a Russian source but were they state coordinated or simply vandals. And since Estonia was a member of NATO, what was NATO's responsibility in helping t defend against an attack on Estonian infrastructure? Ultimately, several western countries helped in thwarting and reducing the effects of the attacks and the resulting permanent damage was minimal, but for a while the country was at a virtual standstill. The Estonian response has been to develop a large volunteer (larger than their army) group of IT specialists who help to defend their cyber infrastructure.
In the DDOS attacks on Georgia, the Russians claimed these were independent folks just wanting to express their opinions. So the freedom to launch cyber-attacks has now morphed into freedom of expression.The situation there was different, everyone having learned from Estonia and Georgian traffic was routed through the U.S. with help from Poland and Estonia. Whether that made the U.S. complicit in the conflict or not was problematic.
Hacking of social media has become extremely sophisticated and the U.S. is woefully behind except as used by a certain U.S politician who dominates the Twitter world. The technique is to drown out the opposition. China used massive troll tweets and bots to overwhelm any discussion of opposition to their regime in Tibet. The Russians spread disinformation, anything to provoke and incite assorted groups. The idea is to confuse and promote their POV to the exclusion of others while preventing any kind of rational or reasonable debate on any issue. Doctored photos are spread about the opposition and soon it becomes impossible to separate reality from the simulated.
Ultimately Segal is optimistic, forecasting that if not pacific, the world will at least have come to terms with cyberspace and information will flow freer and be less dangerous. I remain more skeptical.
February 23, 2016
A Notable Book on the Geopolitical Implications of Cyberwarfare
"The Hacked World Order: How Nations Fight, Trade, Maneuver And Manipulate In The Digital Age" may become as important as Bruce Sterling's "The Hacker Crackdown" in chronicling the history of online hacking. It may be more important in the sense that this is the first major book I have seen that looks critically at the geopolitical implications of organized online hacking by intelligence agencies, military - and paramilitary - organizations and terrorists. In plain English, it explores the usage of online hacking as a means of waging war via nonlethal means, but ultimately, resulting in creating ample mayhem and mischief on a scale approaching traditional, quite lethal, warfare. It does not delve deeply into the creation of online digital weapons like the notorious Stuxnet virus, the subject of journalist Kim Zetter's exceptional "Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon". Instead, it describes, in gripping detail, how Iran responded to the online threats posed by Stuxnet and similar viruses, by using reserve engineering of relevant software, and quickly becoming, in its own right, a major regional cyberpower, capable of crippling the online infrastructure of its Middle Eastern neighbors. While Segal shows that there's been reluctance between the United States and Russia to engage in substantial online cyberwarfare, he does not the increasing importance and interest expressed by the Chinese, as well as the rogue states he believes have become important cyberpowers in their own right; Iran and North Korea. Such reluctance, however, hasn't deterred the United States and Russia from including cyberweaponry as increasingly important aspects of their military arsenal, and Segal does discuss at great length, American efforts in deterring cyberattacks as well as furthering their importance in the cyberweaponry arms race. With regards to Russia, he shows how cyberwarfare played important roles in its 2008 invasion of part of the Republic of Georgia and in the ongoing conflict between Kremlin-backed rebels in Eastern Ukraine with Ukrainian military forces. He also cites important recent events that may be milestones in the history of cyberwarfare, like the Twitter war in Gaza between the Israeli Defense Force and the Hamas "government" of the Gaza Strip, seeking to win the hearts of minds of people across the globe via social media. On a far more sobering note, Segal concludes, by noting the decline of the "Digital Pax Americana" since the "Year Zero" (2012), pointing to the rise of cyberpowers like those cited earlier that seek to use cyberwarfare to further their military, economic and geopolitical objectives. "The Hacked World Order" may be the most important book on contemporary foreign relations published this year, and one worthy of an exceptionally broad audience, from politicians to those in the public vaguely aware of cyberwarfare.
"The Hacked World Order: How Nations Fight, Trade, Maneuver And Manipulate In The Digital Age" may become as important as Bruce Sterling's "The Hacker Crackdown" in chronicling the history of online hacking. It may be more important in the sense that this is the first major book I have seen that looks critically at the geopolitical implications of organized online hacking by intelligence agencies, military - and paramilitary - organizations and terrorists. In plain English, it explores the usage of online hacking as a means of waging war via nonlethal means, but ultimately, resulting in creating ample mayhem and mischief on a scale approaching traditional, quite lethal, warfare. It does not delve deeply into the creation of online digital weapons like the notorious Stuxnet virus, the subject of journalist Kim Zetter's exceptional "Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon". Instead, it describes, in gripping detail, how Iran responded to the online threats posed by Stuxnet and similar viruses, by using reserve engineering of relevant software, and quickly becoming, in its own right, a major regional cyberpower, capable of crippling the online infrastructure of its Middle Eastern neighbors. While Segal shows that there's been reluctance between the United States and Russia to engage in substantial online cyberwarfare, he does not the increasing importance and interest expressed by the Chinese, as well as the rogue states he believes have become important cyberpowers in their own right; Iran and North Korea. Such reluctance, however, hasn't deterred the United States and Russia from including cyberweaponry as increasingly important aspects of their military arsenal, and Segal does discuss at great length, American efforts in deterring cyberattacks as well as furthering their importance in the cyberweaponry arms race. With regards to Russia, he shows how cyberwarfare played important roles in its 2008 invasion of part of the Republic of Georgia and in the ongoing conflict between Kremlin-backed rebels in Eastern Ukraine with Ukrainian military forces. He also cites important recent events that may be milestones in the history of cyberwarfare, like the Twitter war in Gaza between the Israeli Defense Force and the Hamas "government" of the Gaza Strip, seeking to win the hearts of minds of people across the globe via social media. On a far more sobering note, Segal concludes, by noting the decline of the "Digital Pax Americana" since the "Year Zero" (2012), pointing to the rise of cyberpowers like those cited earlier that seek to use cyberwarfare to further their military, economic and geopolitical objectives. "The Hacked World Order" may be the most important book on contemporary foreign relations published this year, and one worthy of an exceptionally broad audience, from politicians to those in the public vaguely aware of cyberwarfare.
May 13, 2018
Someday in near future, this book has the potential of being a history/reference book for cyberwarfare... While most of us are broadly aware of the developments in the area, the book lists out the order in which events unfolded, who hacked whom, what was gained and may be what was lost in this pursuit... Long story short, EVERYONE SPIES, there is no sense of morality here, it's a question of who gets caught doing so... There is a quote in Telugu which roughly translates to - "Guy who is caught stealing is a theif, guy who isn't caught is king"
The book however does seem to get repetitive on what it tries to convey, just the form and context changes... At several points it does seem like a book designed to tarnish China for its hacking activities worldwide, but the west is no saint in this matter, it is only better at doing this kind of stuff... I have always heard US intelligence agencies ghost authoring books with specific propoganda targets, and for the first time I felt this book might be one... The detail in which the book goes to chronicle the events is definitely meticulous, but at the end of the each chapter, it feels that the author portrays Russia , China as the aggressors and US/US companies being the victim, which is a tough sell going by the track record that US has...To quote one Iranian official on being reprimanded for his nations covert nuclear activities, " It is quite rich to be condemned by the only nuclear warfare transgressor in the history of humanity"
On a personal note, the complete absence of India in this area is disconcerting, not a single page attributed to India playing defense or offense has been mentioned... May be we are doing a good job at protecting our assets or maybe we suck so bad at this, that India isn't even seen to be at the big boys table, only time will tell...
The book however does seem to get repetitive on what it tries to convey, just the form and context changes... At several points it does seem like a book designed to tarnish China for its hacking activities worldwide, but the west is no saint in this matter, it is only better at doing this kind of stuff... I have always heard US intelligence agencies ghost authoring books with specific propoganda targets, and for the first time I felt this book might be one... The detail in which the book goes to chronicle the events is definitely meticulous, but at the end of the each chapter, it feels that the author portrays Russia , China as the aggressors and US/US companies being the victim, which is a tough sell going by the track record that US has...To quote one Iranian official on being reprimanded for his nations covert nuclear activities, " It is quite rich to be condemned by the only nuclear warfare transgressor in the history of humanity"
On a personal note, the complete absence of India in this area is disconcerting, not a single page attributed to India playing defense or offense has been mentioned... May be we are doing a good job at protecting our assets or maybe we suck so bad at this, that India isn't even seen to be at the big boys table, only time will tell...
January 30, 2020
I do have a keen interest in cyber security and I do spend some of my spare time with this hobby. So my rating for this book is biased to my interest.
This book is is almost like a summarised report of cyber-warfare. Its indeed a critical responsibility to publish these sensitive information and the author has done his part well with proper reference to the source of information.
If following criteria is interesting for you, you will like this book,
1)Interest in cyber security,
2)Interest in politics.
3)Facts about Edward Snowden.
This book is is almost like a summarised report of cyber-warfare. Its indeed a critical responsibility to publish these sensitive information and the author has done his part well with proper reference to the source of information.
If following criteria is interesting for you, you will like this book,
1)Interest in cyber security,
2)Interest in politics.
3)Facts about Edward Snowden.
March 30, 2016
Very pro-American outlook on the problem of protecting national security and having to include private companies who both innovate and share the same networks as government agencies. Hence their need to coop hackers into national security. But his argument about American influence doesn't properly deal with its slow decline in global influence or inclination to reassert it's once powerful foreign influence.
June 4, 2016
Informative but dry.
November 11, 2017
The Hacked World Order is a book by Adam Segal, a cybersecurity expert and graduate of Cornell University. Published in 2016, it details the history of the emerging threats to global security via the Internet and discusses possible solutions. Segal’s language is straightforward and accessible, with numerous examples that make the prose easy to follow and interesting to engage in. Most example have happened in the last five to six years, and were so prominent in the public consciousness that one does not have to be an expert or a student of international relations to recognize and understand what he is talking about. Considering this area is still largely underrepresented and misunderstood, the accessibility is a definite strength. While most people are not cybersecurity experts nor particularly interested in global security threats, the vast majority of English speakers have an online presence, so understanding the issue and knowing what can be done to protect themselves is a noble goal.
However, many times while reading this book, I found myself wishing Segal had simply waited a year or two to publish it. For instance, while he is downright prophetic in his discussion of the Russian government’s use of bots and trolls to meddle in international political affairs, missing the most glaring example of meddling – the 2016 American presidential election – was downright frustrating. It is not Segal’s fault, of course: even the most learned scholars cannot divine the future. Still, as a result of the 2016 publication date, some of his pieces of advice, such as the recommendation that America team up with the Chinese and Russian governments to prevent ISIS from advancing their hacking capabilities (225), seems downright quaint when read in November 2017.
However, many times while reading this book, I found myself wishing Segal had simply waited a year or two to publish it. For instance, while he is downright prophetic in his discussion of the Russian government’s use of bots and trolls to meddle in international political affairs, missing the most glaring example of meddling – the 2016 American presidential election – was downright frustrating. It is not Segal’s fault, of course: even the most learned scholars cannot divine the future. Still, as a result of the 2016 publication date, some of his pieces of advice, such as the recommendation that America team up with the Chinese and Russian governments to prevent ISIS from advancing their hacking capabilities (225), seems downright quaint when read in November 2017.
August 10, 2019
The book is explaining how internet (or cyber if you will) has changed from open and free platform to a field of politics, espionage and information warfare. Interesting, although sometimes a bit dry, history of change from USA point of view. Interesting analysis of USA, China and Russia strategy and tactics in cyberspace.
December 11, 2021
The Hacked World Order is an interesting and informative book that walks the reader through the history of significant hacking events and their impacts on the U.S. and global community. There are some dated information, but that should be expected since this book was published in 2016; however, there are still a lot of good information that is still relevant today.
October 14, 2022
It's amazing the amount of things one does not know about cyberspace and cyberwars. Although it is a bit hard to get through at first, it becomes very readable after the 2nd chapter. It has so much unknown information that opens your eyes to how much one doesn't know. Adam Segal did it real well. Would definitely recommend!!!
November 6, 2017
Best book on Cyber security...hands down!
Excellent read. Update to date and packed with meaningful examples. Recommend this to anyone interested in cyber policy, international relations and future of privacy.
Excellent read. Update to date and packed with meaningful examples. Recommend this to anyone interested in cyber policy, international relations and future of privacy.
September 20, 2017
Very good overview of the major problems and debates in cybersecurity, online privacy, etc. (Although having been part of the research process, I'll admit I'm a bit biased!)
June 19, 2018
Academic and written with a US-centric lens.
June 23, 2018
Awesome book that combines geopolitics and cyber security.
January 11, 2020
Considering the author, I frankly expected more of such a well regarded think tanker... A bit underwhelming, considering the crowded field...
January 30, 2022
Banger
July 17, 2022
Starts very well. But in the end turns out an advisory book. As computer engineer it seems outdated or known to be.
October 22, 2025
:D biased though
truly BASED word choice
truly BASED word choice
March 2, 2017
Enlightening and a little frightening to learn how other governments are able to hack into our system and bounce the signal all over the world so they cannot be detected. Russia and China especially have been spying on the US for at least the past decade. Espionage is nothing new; it's just gotten sneakier and more complicated. Segal went into depth how easy it was for North Korea to hack into Sony several years ago. How much harder was it for Russia to infiltrate our Internet, plant propaganda, and interfere with our election process?
Adam Segal offers solutions for improving cybersecurity and cooperating with other countries regarding cyberspace.
Adam Segal offers solutions for improving cybersecurity and cooperating with other countries regarding cyberspace.
December 13, 2016
Book discusses a timely and important topic. It has some valuable historical narrative that really does set the stage for this discussion. Loved the analogy about year zero. However, at times it reads slow and repetitive. More importantly, the main point gets lost. The summary at the end is equally confusing.
October 7, 2016
Important information and worth the read, though the style is dry as dust; like a report from some bureaucratic government meeting.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews