What makes cyber warfare uniquely dangerous in the corporate sector of Western governments and economies is that military power in the cyber domain must be extended through computer networks provided and maintained by corporate entitites. The use of these networks for cyberattacks or defense requires the conscription and/or cooperation of civilian resources. Corporations that provide these networks are then exposed to extreme liability, as they will quickly become the targets of suspicion and possible retaliation from an enemy state. In recent years, both Chinese and American companies have been caught in just this situation.
There is also the issue of readily available "freeware" or pirated software, one or the other, which may lead to breeches of the corporate firewall. Chinese telecommunication giants Huawei and ZTE were identified in a House of Representatives’ intelligence committee report released in 2008 that warned of potential national security threats posed by the companies. A year-long investigation of the two Asian companies led the intelligence committee to identify severe vulnerabilities caused by hidden “backdoors” worked into the companies’ technologies that would allow access to U.S. government and business networks. The report advised against the purchase of products manufactured by Huawei or ZTE, and directed policymakers block any mergers between either of the two companies and U.S. telecommunication corporations.
Such is the danger of cyber warfare. It is real, it is here, and it will be used to destroy some nation -- which one, we can't predict, but one will fall as a result of an invisible, yet no less deadly, attack.
