Cyber-Electronic Warfare

Cyber-electronic warfare represents the convergence of traditional electronic warfare (EW) — which has operated in the electromagnetic spectrum for decades — with modern cyber operations. As military and civilian systems become increasingly software-defined and networked, the boundary between attacking a system through its network interface versus its radio frequency (RF) interface has blurred, creating a unified cyber-electromagnetic domain that demands integrated offensive and defensive capabilities.

Electronic warfare encompasses electronic attack (jamming, spoofing), electronic protection (anti-jam, frequency hopping), and electronic support (signal intelligence, spectrum monitoring). When combined with cyber operations, adversaries can chain RF-based attacks with network exploitation — for example, spoofing GPS signals to manipulate autonomous vehicles, jamming communications to force fallback to less secure channels, or exploiting software-defined radios to gain network access through wireless interfaces.

GPS spoofing has emerged as a particularly impactful threat, affecting aviation, maritime navigation, financial system timing, and military operations. The proliferation of software-defined radio (SDR) platforms has dramatically lowered the cost and skill barrier for RF attacks, while the growing dependence on satellite communications, 5G networks, and wireless IoT creates an ever-expanding RF attack surface.