The eyes of the entire world are fixed on the beheading parade of the Islamic State that breaks its own records almost every week. The incomprehensible brutality, the uncompromising fanaticism, the wanton, flaming hatred and the appalling barbarity of the struggle — all these have attracted most of the global attention in recent months ever since the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), now simply the Islamic State (IS), burst into world consciousness.

This is the old war. It will take time until we rid ourselves of the outcomes of this territorial and physical terrorism, in favor of the next kind of warfare, but it behooves us not to ignore the future. It is already here. In future world wars and the great struggles yet to come, cyberspace will occupy a growing domain in the arenas of war. Resources will be redirected from the effort to kill as many human beings as possible with the least effort in the shortest time, or to behead as many victims as possible to horrify as many civilized Westerners as possible, to something completely different. Instead, the goal will be to sabotage the automated Internet infrastructure of as many systems as possible in enemy countries and spaces. The goal: to disrupt civilian life, to neutralize or destroy security systems and even inflict serious damage on assets and economies and kill as many people as possible, too.

“The capabilities are already here,” I was told last week (mid-September) by a high-echelon Israeli who has been dealing with this issue for many years. “Already now there are organizations and countries that can physically harm targets and people through the Internet.” I asked for examples. “There are many things that we still can’t talk about,” he said, “but I’ll give you an obvious example. Let’s assume that an espionage organization wants to eliminate someone in a foreign country. Let’s assume that this ‘someone’ is now driving a contemporary car, a brand created in recent years. Or, in other words, a car whose systems are operated by a computer. All you need is to know how to make a long-distance connection to the car’s computer systems and to know how to track any kind of cellular gadget the person has in the car. Even if the gadget doesn’t work or doesn’t even have a battery. With this kind of long-distance tracking, you can know exactly when the car is driving down a steep slope, then disable its braking system all at once. At that moment, you have determined the fate of everyone in the car.”

I asked the official if Israel has already used this method to neutralize foreign terrorist agents. “No,” he said, “we’re not there yet. But theoretically this possibility exists out there. Soon there will be countries or espionage organizations that will be capable of carrying out such moves. And that is only the beginning.”