Book Review: Understanding Cyber Warfare: Politics, Policy, and Strategy (Essay Sample)

This review is based upon the book “Understanding Cyber Warfare: Politics, Policy, and Strategy” written by Brian Mazanec and Christopher Whyte. This book was published in 2018 by Tyler Taylor Francis and discusses the international relations policies and operational issues associated with computer network exploitation. 

Author Introduction

As an expert in international security and intelligence, Brian Mazanec oversees intelligence operations and strategic emerging warfare issues. Earning his masters from Missouri State and later earning his doctorate for international security from George Mason University, Mazanec education’s tenure has led him to being well-versed in cyber security. His knowledge and understanding of the system is complimented by Chris Whyte’s innovative writing to fully capture the vulnerability of computer networks. Now working as an assistant professor of Homeland Security and Emergency, Christopher Whyte's scholarly and analytic work emonates his ability to understand cyberspace as he writes 

about potential strategies on the efforts of international security. In this book, Whyte and Mazanec’s profound research into a range of interstate cyber conflicts and risk analysis of cyber security and policymaking gives an insight into the potential dangers of the web and furthers the ideas that cyber warfare poses as much risk as physical dangers do.

Understanding Cyber Warfare’s Central Idea

Written as an informative expose unveiling the dark past of cyber warfare, this book covers a variety of topics on how cyber warfare affects international policy, societal politics, and strategic advancements of many nation's cyber security. Beginning from the inception of the web, this book states that early collaborators developed the web in its earliest forms to resolve obvious problems with inefficiency in intercomputer communication networks. While the inception of the web catapulted many new development systems, national security threats and sensitive national security information quickly became a problem with espionage campaigns in the 1990s becoming quickly widespread. Digital weapons disrupting the interaction of technology and social political institutions and systems quickly became a network security challenge as cyber security was an afterthought during the inception of the web. Throughout the book many of the challenges concerning cyber warfare centered around social activism, proxy fights,and criminal actions that stemmed from cyberspace risks. The different events discussed such as North Korea Sony hack and moonlight maze show the influence that cyber parameters had by connecting information and turning it into cyber action. By including these key events this book discussed in great detail the context and key issues of the topic that provided a consistent narrative to the world of cyber conflict studies.While this book addresses many issues, the basic information on which it allows readers to build on, allows readers to comprehend a mixed course of technical foundations. Though the book is meant to directly address the issues of cyber warfare most of its contents revolve around cyber conflicts and how that translates into socio-cultural problems that further the need for cyber security.

Comparing Publications

In the field of cyber warfare, there are countless other publications that are informative and provide context of what cyber warfare is and how it translates to playing a big role in modern day society. With cyber warfare covering a range of topics, all with different dynamics and complexities, the strategic realities and issues of cyber conflict stem from a common inception, the web. The onset territories surrounding transforming the world of cybersecurity within the web align with security information and creating global infrastructure that revolutionizes information importance. Network privacy and cyber conflict issues are also key initiatives in analyzing concepts between the barriers of digital cyber warfare and real warfare. When compared to other books, “Understanding Cyber Warfare: Politics, Policy, and Strategy” by Brian Mazanec and Christopher Whyte provides an in-depth information structure to which the readers are able to grasp and comprehend information readily while reading text. The reinforcement text structure found throughout the book strengthens the ideas previously posed. When comparing this book in context to other books in the field, this publication serves its purpose of giving readers an understanding of cyber warfare in the realm of how strategies in the digital world influence international policies and politics. In relation to other publications, due to the wide range of cyberwarfare in the context cyber weapons, darknet territory, and the tactics use behind them this textbook touches on the basics of these ideas to provide a primary understanding of the need for cybersecurity.

This book is important in its field because of the readable content that allows readers of all levels to understand. While many other publications have better content regarding cyberwarfare, this book’s ability to translate ideas to readers while reinforcing previous ideas sets it apart from other books. Along with this, this book opens up a new perspective on how digital information can be now used to influence different aspects of society. The overlying lesson that this book teaches is the idea that the creation of the web has revolutionized the world in a way that has formed new problems.

Book Theory Implications 

The implications of the ideas in this book open a new world of possibilities. While the inception of the web proved to be very helpful in many areas of daily societal life, the effects of an afterthought cyber security design in the software has created a catalog of new issues. In society the implications of the theories discussed in this book is detrimental to the way society functions. 

With many individuals relying on social networks to carry out daily life activities such as GPS navigation, work duties, and normal activities such as shopping, information security is imperative in keeping everyone connected without jeopardizing privacy. The vast amount of data collection and data information available on the web with no security measures put in place to secure the sensitive information of individuals poses a great threat to many individuals. As more and more people adapt to using social platforms, cybersecurity needs to be at the forefront in today’s world. The societal impact that unsecure network platforms can have may lead to monetary, physical, and emotional damage.

Personal Review

The book, “Understanding Cyber Warfare: Politics, Policy, and Strategy”  is an insightful and informative publication created for individuals of all levels. For individuals who are looking into gaining an understanding of cyberwarfare, this book is the one to read. Starting from the beginning, this book gives readers an understanding of the basics to supplement the ideas that are posed later on in the book. The interconnected ideas of the topic are efficiently structured in a way that a previous section gives understanding to the next section. In reading this book, it was evident that the information was meant as an informative piece to help others gain insight into the world of cyberwarfare, and while the discussions was formulated in a past, present, and future format, it would have been gratifying to have more insights regarding how the digital cyberspace will affect the politics, and international policy in the future.