Often cyber warfare is described as a "future threat". Nothing could be further from the truth. Warfare in the cyber domain is now an everyday occurrence - and has been for some time.
In 2007, Russia carried out a cyberattack against Estonia. The use of the co-called Stuxnet virus to slow down Iran's nuclear enrichment programme has been all but officially acknowledged by the US. During the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in 2011, the lights mysteriously went out in the city of Abbottabad, even though today nobody has explained exactly how this happened.
Cyber warfare, and the threat it poses, is very real. The civil war in Syria is a great example of this.