The new code war: Cold War paranoia meets cyber conflict

As the pop culture phenomenon of Stranger Things enters its final season, its return to our screens feels timely for reasons beyond nostalgia.

Rooted in Cold War paranoia – from secret Russian labs to covert experiments – the series reflects a bygone era that was defined by fear and secrecy. Except that era may not be so ‘gone.’

What began as supernatural fiction, Stranger Things has unironically, become an allegory for the real-world power struggles. Because while the Cold War may have ended, that paranoia has never really disappeared.

Only today, it’s a war fought across IT infrastructure, where lines of code, data and cyber operations have become the modern theatre of control.

As ...