The title of Alex Gibney’s new documentary about cyberwar has something apocalyptic about it: a digital version of the Book of Revelations, perhaps. It’s actually a technical term relating to malware developed in the last decade by the US and Israeli security services. Analysts nicknamed it “Stuxnet”, though the intelligence officers themselves gave their baby the creepy codename “Olympic Games”.

In 2010, the Americans succeeded in installing this device at Natanz, an Iranian nuclear plant, causing centrifuges to spin out of control. But the Iranians had cyberwarriors on their own payroll and hit back with malware attacks on Bank of America, among other American institutions. The malware itself grew like a toxic worm, infecting other systems all over the world. As one interviewee puts it, there is a “whiff of August 1945” about the Natanz attack – the first chapter in a new history of warfare.



Gibney argues that cyber-attacks are the next big thing in war, and, despite official denials, it is not just a matter of “hacking” or “spying” but complete offensive capability. And, as in nuclear war, the experts emphasise the American football distinctions between defence and offence. What Zero Days does is make the case that cyber-aggression of nation states is a new form of dangerous geopolitical dysfunction. Unlike nuclear or chemical weapons, which have some kind of internationally enforceable inspection arrangements and balances of power, cyberweapons are deniable and denied, protected by a new kind of macho-geekery and silence.

Zero Days is an intriguing, disturbing watch. And to return to the title, there is another echo – of Lucy Walker’s nuclear weapons documentary Countdown to Zero. We need some kind of cyber-nonproliferation treaty.