Cyberwarfare

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

The use of digital attacks — including malware, hacking, denial-of-service attacks, and infrastructure sabotage — by state or state-sponsored actors against other states' systems, infrastructure, or military networks

History and origin

Emerged as a concept in the 1990s; Stuxnet (2010) is widely regarded as the first major state-deployed cyberweapon

Examples

• Ukraine has faced sustained cyberwarfare attacks targeting its power grid, banking system, and government networks.
• Cyberwarfare is increasingly integrated into conventional military operations as a force-multiplier.

Sometimes written as two words: 'cyber warfare'; single word is more common in security literature

Synonyms: cyber operations, offensive cyber, cyber conflict