I am not a 14 years old why am I writing this stuff
Synopsis
Zero Days (2016) is a documentary directed by Alex Gibney focused mainly on the Stuxnet virus, a worm developed by joint effort of US and Israeli government, targeted to sabotage Iran’s nuclear facility. It was first discovered by a Belarusian cybersecurity company in 2010, but it was believed to be operational as early as 2005 in the control systems of Iranian nuclear facilities. This documentary explored various aspects regarding this worm: why is it developed for particularly attacking Iran, how does it wor, where does it take effect, and how severe the damage might be. Furthermore, it shed light on the extremely secretive nature of this offensive cyber attack, as well as the broader geopolitical ramifications of such cyber operations.
Accuracy and Realism
This documentary is about a real malware, and provided interviews with people that had direct involvement in the development, distribution, supervision and discovery process of this worm. It attacked Windows systems by using zero-day attacks, and will only cause damage to those computers linked to a specific type of Siemens hardware, which is used to control centrifuges used to enrich uranium in Iranian nuclear facilities. This went undercover for years without Iranians noticing anything, until a flawed version was released and spread into the Internet, later being discovered by a Belarusian company. After the examination of the code, it was discovered that such malware could have the potential to cause huge damage to critical infrastructures and undermine the stability of the society from the very bottom, both in Iran and around the world.
Ethical Considerations
The documentary addressed several ethical issues related to this worm and the bigger picture of modern cyber warfare, which was referred to as “another dimension”” of warfare. Mainly, it talked about 2 major ethical challenges:
- Lack of transparency and accountability from US and Israeli government. Although the Stuxnet is well-known all over the world and is used as a classic case study for cybersecurity countless of times, US government has never officially admitted its involvement in this operation. In fact, it actively denied answering questions about clarifying its position in this matter, and all documents about the Stuxnet are classified. Multiple interviewees in the documentary argued that if this malware is capable of causing huge damage to facilities and even cost lives, it should be discussed more openly like atom bombs.
- Collateral damage and potential civilian impact. One interviewee mentioned that one implication of Stuxnet attack is that it had set a precedent for other parties, and similar malwares might be developed and deployed. If Stuxnet or Stuxnet-like malwares were used on other types of infrastructures, like oil pipes or dams, the damage could be tremendous, and real people are gonna suffer from it. Yet, because of the nature of cyber space, it can be hard to reach an agreement between countries, further raising the stake of a worldwide conflict both in cyberspace and in real world.
Reflection
This documentary shed light on a pretty grim side of the reality. Cyberattacks have the potential to cause as much damage both to physical objects and human beings as atom bombs, yet the discussion it’s receiving and the international agreements being made are no where near the status of atomic weapons. The plots and fantasies in those hacker themed films are pretty much real, and are in some cases more sophisticated than those writer’s wildest imagination. This documentary was released back in 2016, 8 years have passed, and those cyberattacks have definitely been even more complex. From the headlines in recent years, we can see many government sponsored cyberattacks pop up, and ransomwares targeted at critical infrastructures are more active than ever. We as world citizens must be aware of this increasingly relavant field to us and be able to, at the very least, protect ourselves from those type of attacks.
Recommendations
The world is only to be getting more dangerous with current geopolitical conflicts, and it’s very important to be aware of cyber warfares happening along side those conflicts. In my opinion, this is a must-see documentary for all modern citizens. However, since it is released in 2016, it might not reflect current global environments accurately, especially the new trends of cryptocurrency-related concepts and implictions of covid pandemic. Overall, it’s a good documentary.
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