Cyberwarfare

Cyberwarfare has been defined as "actions by a nation-state to penetrate another nation's computers or networks for the purposes of causing damage or disruption," but other definitions also include non-state actors, such as terrorist groups, companies, political or ideological extremist groups, hacktivists, and transnational criminal organizations.

Some governments have made it an integral part of their overall military strategy, with some having invested heavily in cyberwarfare capability.

Types of threat

Cyberattacks, where damage or disruption is caused are the main concern.

Cyber espionage, which can provide the information needed to launch a successful attack.

Espionage

Traditional espionage is not an act of war, nor is cyber-espionage, and both are generally assumed to be ongoing between major powers.

Despite this assumption, some incidents can cause serious tensions between nations, and are often described as "attacks". For example:

Cyberwar (video game)

Cyberwar is a PC game based on the film The Lawnmower Man. It was released in 1994 by SCi. Ports were announced for the Sega CD, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, and in Japan only for the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation, but only the Japan-only PlayStation version was released.

The player is assigned the role of Dr. Angelo, sent in to Virtual Reality to defeat Jobe, who, in the film was born simple but increased his brain capacity by 400% using Virtual Reality. He eventually leaves his physical body and enters VR permanently. The various gameplay elements are based on the Virtual Reality segments seen in the original film. For instance, one of the levels has the player flying through tunnels avoiding multiple objects, much like one of the games in the film.

If the player misses any part of any challenge, he reaches a game over. Cyberwar consists of three discs but also includes a CD with the soundtrack featured in the game.

Reception

On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the PlayStation version of the game an 18 out of 40.