Matthew RosenquistFounder & CISO Advisor, Cybersecurity Insights · CISO, Cybersecurity Strategist, & Industry Advisor

Cyber as Asymmetric Warfare

22 Apr 2025 · 1 min

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1:10

In this segment, the speaker challenges the conventional view of cyber operations as purely asymmetric tools that let smaller actors punch above their weight. He argues that cyber attacks are rapidly integrating into joint all‑domain warfare, becoming true effectors that can directly manipulate physical systems. Using the concrete example of compromising bridge control software, he illustrates how a cyber weapon can prevent a bridge from opening for boat traffic, effectively turning a digital intrusion into a kinetic weapon. The discussion reframes cyber capabilities as weapons in the traditional sense—effectors that produce tangible, physical outcomes on the battlefield.

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Well, it's not just asymmetric. I mean, I suppose it's traditionally thought of as asymmetric warfare, you know, because it allows a smaller nation to hit above its weight. But it's actually rapidly becoming part of joint all-domain warfare. When you use a cyber attack to do something like, let's say, cripple the ability for a to collect tolls at a bridge or shut down the ability for a bridge to open or close, let's say. You've been able to insert some sort of software onto the actual systems that will open and close the bridge. Well, in a case like that, you might not be able to open the bridge to let a boat pass through, right? So now you've just used a cyber weapon as an honest-to-God weapon because a cyber weapon is an effector, right? And what is a weapon but an effector? Yeah.