Hackers aren't what Hollywood shows us
The common perception of a "hacker" is usually that of some individual at home or working in a basement somewhere, cloaked in a cheap hoodie and ingesting copious amounts of caffeine, while hammering away at code sprawled across at least three different monitors or displays.
In these Hollywood representations, the malicious actor is usually smiling and talking to themselves as they craft unique singular exploits that might be used to take down a bank or some world-ending computer system. These overhyped mythical "hackers" are almost always introverts and technical geniuses that are anti-social, anti-government, and often woefully ignorant of the totality of their actions.
In truth, this is not the reality behind the keyboard in the real world of cyber warfare operations. Certainly, in some instances, there must be a "hacker" somewhere that is a representation of this stereotype, but more often than not, the personas behind some of the most malevolent and vicious attacks in cyberspace look nothing like this. In many cases, those malicious actors are wearing a uniform and are paid, protected, and trained by their government – or in some cases, governments. They are exceptionally bright, well trained, highly focused, and creative individuals that have found a niche in their ability to engage in espionage and combat operations anywhere in the world, with any adversary. They are the tip of the digital spear for what is to be the dominant combat environment for the future, and they are the front-line warriors that are constantly engaged in a game of binary cat and mouse that rivals all other wars.
The command of cyberspace in the 21st century is as decisive and impactful as the command of the sea was in the 19th century and the command of the air in the 20th century. Cyberspace is, in all truth, the battlefield on which the war of the future is currently being fought. It is the arena for the New Cold War. An arena in which every nation on Earth, every criminal enterprise, and indeed almost every human on the planet, holds interests and resides. Never in the history of man has there been a location in which global conflict is actively raging in the same space as every business and organization on the planet.
With only about 50 years of history behind it, the internet and global connectivity are expanding at an extraordinary speed. More connections and more data were created and shared or distributed in the last 5 years than in the whole of human history previously.
Cyberspace is now the new platform for political, economic, military, and cultural interactions and engagements. This will be the domain wherein impacts on social stability, national security, economic development, and cultural communication will be made in the next century.
Computer security and the study of computer threats and exploitation have not always been at the forefront of computer science, however. It has only been in the last few decades that the need for, and the power of, cyber espionage and warfare tactics have been realized at an international level. In order to understand the power and efficacy of these digital warriors and the operations in which they hone their craft, it is imperative that we understand where computer exploitation came from, and analyze the evolution of this space; an evolution from a focus on innovation by any means necessary in order to benefit businesses and the consumer, to one of strategic combat on a global scale.
There are a variety of "early instances" of cyber threat activities and operations, and if you were to cobble together 50 different experts on the topic, you would likely have 50 different incidents to discuss as the beginnings of cyber warfare. It is therefore pointless to argue over the absolute particulars of specifics on what was the first or most influential of these attacks throughout time. What is important is to point out and detail a few major exploits and threat activities that stand out as seminal points in time to help us better understand the reality of this space and its evolution toward its future state.
For clarity's sake, in common definitions, a cyber-attack and cyber-defense could be conducted at any scale: from the state level by the military to a major organization, right down to the personal level involving a singular individual. It could be a simple hacking attack, focused mainly on nuisance type outcomes, or the attack could be a long-term, multi-year, large-scale state-launched operation that is aimed at damaging the physical infrastructure of an enemy state. There is no unequivocal "gospel" definition of a cyber-attack, or a cyber threat operation or operator.
However, in most circles familiar with the topic area, it generally refers to an unauthorized intrusion into a computer or a computer network in such forms as tampering, denial of service, data theft, and server infiltration. Additionally, there is no real consensus on what constitutes the actual "first" ever cyber-attack, be it by a nation state or a lone operator. Many cite the Morris Worm as one of the first real attacks, while others cite the attacks on the federal network in the early 1980s as the first real appearance of dedicated cyber threat actions. Regardless of the specific chosen threat action in history, in truth, there are so many possible referenceable actions that have occurred that there is no real right answer. What is more important to understand is the reality that the ways in which attacks have occurred in and around cyberspace have evolved from their earliest iterations, and that they are continuing to change and adapt as technology develops.