Alex Gibney on ‘Zero Days’ and the Need for Rules of Cyber Warfare (Variety)
Alex Gibney’s latest documentary “Zero Days” focuses on the covert operation by U.S. and Israeli intelligence officials to unleash a malware attack on an Iranian nuclear facility in late 2009 and 2010, destroying up to 1,000 centrifuges.
The cyberattack also had unintended consequences. The malware, known as Stuxnet, spread around the world, and was eventually discovered by computer engineers, but it has never been officially acknowledged by the U.S. or Israeli governments.
“Zero Days” plays like a thriller, but it also raises questions of this new type of warfare. The Stuxnet attack proved that malware can be used not just to destroy computer systems but also to cause physical damage and disasters and threaten human lives.