Carl Von Clausewitz described the purpose of war as "the compulsory submission of the enemy to our will." Unlike conventional military conflicts of the past, war in the information age is more a battle of wills than artillery, and doesn't necessarily end with decisive conclusions or clear winners. Cyber warfare between nations is conducted not only without the consent or participation of citizens but often without their knowledge, with little to see in the way of airstrikes and troop movements.

The weapons are information systems, intelligence, propaganda and the media. The combatants are governments, multinational corporations, hackers and whistleblowers. The battlefields are economies, command and control networks, election outcomes and the hearts and minds of populations. As with Russia's bloodless 2014 annexation of the Crimea, the cyberwar is fought before the infantry arrives. Written by a United States intelligence community insider, this book describes the covert aspects of modern wars and the agencies who fund and fight them.