Film Review: Zero Days (2016)

‘War. War never changes’ comes the saying that begins every instalment of the Fallout games. It’s a strange state of affairs that the most abhorrent thing that human kind is capable of it also one that is common across nearly all periods, cultures and settings. Yet we now find ourselves in the era of the internet and although war never changes, the way it’s fought sure does.

For thousands of years there were two tiers of warfare – the army and the navy. It wasn’t until the turn of the 20^th century that a third tier was introduced when advent of planes birthed the air force. In the last few years another seismic shift has taken place as the internet has introduced the fourth dimension of war: cyber.

The new documentary by Alex Gibney, Zero Days does what Gibney does best: explores a contemporary issue with clarity and thorough research. Gibney has to be one of the busiest men in the business, with an average of two feature length documentaries coming out each year. And once again, Gibney and his team of researchers should be lauded for their work, as Zero Days is an experience as fascinating as it is chilling.

This is a lesson which will span from world politics to the front lines of the War on Terror, as we delve into the world of international covert action. Gibney has always been great at looking at a single event and then zooming out to explore a wider issue, which is the strategy used here. The tipping point happened in 2010 when a computer virus called Stuxnet was discovered; this is the singularity which the whole of Zero Days is based around.

If you’ve never heard of Stuxnet before, you should have – it’s the computer virus that nearly started World War Three. Although details of the attack are still classified there’s enough information available to understand the enormity of what almost went down. Stuxnet was twenty times bigger and more complex than any previous virus code. The average virus will occasionally take advantage of what’s called a ‘zero day’ flaw – basically it can find a weakness in a computing system and then attack it before anyone can figure out how to block the attack (hence the term ‘zero day’). Stuxnet took advantage of twenty separate zero days.

Unlike other viruses Stuxnet wasn’t using a forged security clearance to gain access to the system it was attacking; it had a legitimate entry clearance stolen from one of the world’s most reputable tech companies in the world. Worst of all, it was coded to be a unique kind of attack – it could shut down the system it was attacking and still tell the system operator that everything was normal; the person or system being attacked wouldn’t even know they were being attacked.

The scale and complexity of Stuxnet means that it had to have had a nation-state behind it; no hacker or team of hackers in the world could have coded something so massive on their own. It’s since been confirmed that it was a joint US/Israeli effort to design Stuxnet and its target – Iran’s nuclear program.

Zero Days is a documentary that everyone should see. This major change to the status quo affects everyone and it’s best to be educated about a topic as massive as the future of warfare – it’s our children and grandchildren who are going to be fighting them. As Gibney also points out, there needs to be a robust and open debate about the future of cyber warfare but because of the top secrecy of the programs no government or population can have one. You need to be informed to have an effective debate and when next to no information is available, that’s when dark things can happen. We have to understand these new weapons, the stakes are too high. Documentaries like Zero Days are a great starting point.

All of Gibney’s films are dense but Zero Days would have to be the most complicated one so far. The level of information squeezed into two hours is staggering and getting it all in one viewing isn’t easy. A few watches might be needed to get everything out of this incredible documentary, but for a topic this fascinating a second or third watch wouldn’t be asking too much.

All in all, Zero Days is everything that doco junkies are looking for. There’s exploration of a massive and complicated topic, amazing interviews with people who prove that life is far stranger than fiction, and you come out of it wanting to learn more. If you’re at all interested in world politics and the changing nature of power, this is a must-watch.

Where we go from here isn’t clear or particularly hopeful. As Michael Hayden, ex-head of the NSA, says: There’s a feeling spookily reminiscent of August 1945 – an entirely new kind of weapon has just been used and nothing will be the same from hereafter. Once Pandora’s Box has been opened nothing can put what was released back in. Think about that – we now live in a world where weapons don’t have to be made of metal and wood; they can be made entirely with computer code.

Stuxnet is the tip of the iceberg and war as we know it isn’t going to be the same after this. There’s a quote that Tyrion says in Season 5 of Game of Thrones that comes to mind: “You’re in the great game now. And the great game is terrifying”.

Zero Days is in cinemas from 13th October through Madman Films.