‘Invisible Force’ graphic novel shows the possible future of cyber warfare

The Army Cyber Institute’s new graphic novel “Invisible Force” suggests that advanced technology such as doctored videos and artificial intelligence could be weaponized by foreign adversaries in the near future.

“Invisible Force” takes place in the year 2030, when a foreign adversary, in this case the fictional nation of Donovia, uses artificial intelligence to undermine the United Nations’ response to a refugee crisis. Refugees fled from Africa to another fictional European nation of Atropia where they are held in a camp, which soon becomes the epicenter of a new strain of a virus.

Donovia works to break down trust between each stakeholder in the story — the public, refugees, military and government — until the truth is so distorted that no party has a clear idea of what is real and what is not. Donovia spreads misinformation that vaccines for the virus are poisoned and create deepfake videos depicting situations that did not actually happen.

“Trust is not something that you can take for granted,” Maj. Jessica Dawson, an assistant professor at the Army Cyber Institute who advised the “Invisible Force” project, said. “It requires work and it requires repair and it requires constant maintenance.”

Dawson said the story’s creators used threatcasting, a process designed to understand and prepare for future risks, to imagine what a future with cyber security issues might look like. In partnership with Arizona State University’s Threatcasting Lab, the Army Cyber Institute created this graphic novel as a “science fiction prototype,” which is a fictional story based on research of projected technological and cultural trends, according to the novel.

Cyberwarfare: The changing role of force

Novel malware, computer code and clandestine digital access are some of the unconventional weapons various countries are currently amassing and deploying. Whether used as a force multiplier for disinformation operations, for stand-alone projections of power or carefully calibrated escalations of conflict, cyber weapon use is growing on the international stage.

Take as example the most recent cyber skirmishes between Israel and Iran: Iranians targeted a water treatment plant, caused a port shutdown, defaced websites and mounted influence operations. For every incident that makes headlines, we have to assume that many more are happening behind the scenes.