Cyber Warfare Strategic Innovations and Force Multipliers

"But magic is neither good nor evil. It is a tool, like a knife. Is a knife evil? Only if the wielder is evil."

— Rick Riordan

Tools are just that: tools. There is no innately good or evil tool. The user is what determines what that tool is going to be used for and is ultimately responsible for the impact that the tool might have. A shovel can be used to dig an irrigation ditch and provide needed water for crops and homes. It can also be used to bash someone's skull in and bury them in a shallow grave. A visceral image and a violent one, but sometimes it is necessary to be a bit shocking to get a point across.

In cyber warfare this is just as true. While there certainly have been specifically developed weapons that have emerged from nation state actors and groups, the majority of what has been used as the tools to engage in cyber warfare actions were actually simply functional pieces...