BIG READ: Russia leading the way in the cyber arms race

Russia is leading the way, as new technology is combined with old spying techniques, says Owen Matthews

IN hacker jargon, a ‘cyber-to-physical effect’ is when a hacker reaches out from the virtual world into the real one — often with catastrophic consequences.

The Americans and Israelis pioneered the technique in 2009, when the Stuxnet programme infiltrated Iranian computer systems and wrecked thousands of uranium-enriching centrifuges.