Film: "Zero Days"
Alex Gibney (Going Clear) explores the next frontier of cyber warfare in this white-knuckle nonfiction thriller.
Welcome to World War 3.0.
Whereas nearly all forms of 20th-century combat go boom, today’s warfare goes beep—or scarier still, it makes no sound at all, as hyper-targeted malware disables or destroys its adversaries’ infrastructure. Despite an intimidating muzzle of secrecy over all involved, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (Going Clear) manages to not only expose—but also miraculously explain—the complex, silent threat of the “Stuxnet,” the malware which the U.S. and Israel launched during a black ops cyber attack on an Iranian nuclear facility in 2010.
But there were some unforeseen consequences. The Stuxnet virus infiltrated its pre-determined target only to spread its infection outward, ultimately exposing systemic vulnerabilities that threatened the very safety of the planet. The geek-speak title of this primer on cyberwarfare effectively announces that this new threat is already here and the world is now playing catch-up to contain it. D: Alex Gibney, US, 2016, 1h 56m
Programmed in conjunction with Osher’s summer lecture series Global Challenges Affecting the United States
