# Cyber War

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cyber-war/478180>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 21, 2008, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cyber-war/478180 "2008-12-21T12:08:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cyber-war/478180/21 "2008-12-25T18:16:24Z")

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Oop! Sorry; I didn’t read it clearly.

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cyber-war/478180/22 "2008-12-26T11:59:53Z")

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> [@chowder](#):
>
> It’s quite a good read and I just wonder is it possible for another country or indeed even an individual to do this, causing havoc wherever they/he chose to hack into

It’s already happened:

[Titan Rain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_Rain)

[Cyberattacks on Estonia, 2007](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberattacks_on_Estonia_2007)

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**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cyber-war/478180/23 "2008-12-27T04:44:51Z")

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The hacking of both McCain and Obama’s staffing offices by an unnamed nation was pretty big news. The hacking nation apparently wanted to see potential policies that might be put into place.  
[Link](http://boingboing.net/2008/11/06/obama-and-mccain-sys.html)

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**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cyber-war/478180/24 "2008-12-27T04:53:58Z")

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> [@clayton\_e](#):
>
> The hacking of both McCain and Obama’s staffing offices by an unnamed nation was pretty big news. The hacking nation apparently wanted to see potential policies that might be put into place.  
> [Link](http://boingboing.net/2008/11/06/obama-and-mccain-sys.html)

Shortly after Obama won, I read in a Japanese news article that politicians there were very interested in learning the methods that he had used to raise so much money and to get his message out so far. It said that several Japanese people had volunteered to work in his staff and were now back in Japan holding classes.

Assuming other nations did the same thing (with both Obama and McCain’s camps), it’s possible that any such attack came as a result of having foreign nationals physically inside the campaigns. But on the other hand, this could mean simply that they were trying to learn how to campaign 21st Century style and nothing particularly nefarious was intended.

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