Documentary 'Zero Days' is more frightening than anything Hollywood could come up with
The alarmingly prolific Alex Gibney 鈥� in just the past year or so he鈥檚聽made documentaries on Scientology, Steve Jobs, and Frank Sinatra 鈥� has聽made a movie more frightening than anything the heebie-jeebie聽Hollywood experts could ever come up with. 鈥淶ero Days,鈥� which takes its聽name from a computer security flaw, is about the brave new world of聽cyberwarfare.
The film鈥檚 starting point is the self-replicating Stuxnet malware, first聽discovered by an antivirus company in Belarus. It targeted Iranian聽nuclear facilities and was almost certainly invented by U.S. intelligence聽agencies and Israel鈥檚 Mossad. One of the reasons we know this is because聽documents related to Stuxnet ended up on Wikileaks, about which Gibney聽made the movie 鈥淲e Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks.鈥�
In 鈥淶ero Days,鈥� he interviews at length New York Times correspondent聽David Sanger, who fills in much relevant detail. He also speaks with聽many high-level experts, including Michael Hayden, former head of the聽NSA and CIA, and Richard Clarke, counterterrorism adviser to three聽former presidents, all of whom are conversant in cyberespionage without聽admitting to anything. But he does get a woman from within the U.S.聽Cyber Command to spill at least some of the beans, although there鈥檚 a聽surprise I won鈥檛 reveal attached to her participation. One of her purported聽revelations: the Obama administration鈥檚 deal to limit Iran鈥檚 nuclear聽capability was covertly bolstered by Washington鈥檚 ability to annihilate聽that country鈥檚 cyberinfrastructure.
Gibney attempts to use Stuxnet as the latchkey 鈥� the worm, if you like聽鈥� into the larger issue of worldwide government transparency in an age聽when cyberwarfare, unlike, say, nuclear, chemical, or biological warfare,聽is entirely without limits or treaties. (Not that those treaties that are in聽place for those types of warfare are routinely obeyed.) How would聽international law even operate in the cyber realm? By necessity, far more聽questions than answers are raised in 鈥淶ero Days.鈥� All of the questions聽and answers are troubling. Grade:聽B+ (Rated PG-13 for some strong language.)
