China & Russia Accidentally Nuke Each Other After Cyberattack
Future Fake News - October 7, 2031
Moscow and Beijing have been decimated after nuclear missiles were dropped on each city in what turned out to be a massive misunderstanding. Russia and China appear to have been victims of a cyberattack instigated by an as-yet unidentified third party.
The conflict between the nations began after hackers altered internet and social media algorithms to manipulate the newsfeeds and search results of users in each country with fake news and misinformation to make it seem as though tensions between China and Russia were rising over a border dispute near Siberia. A series of videos featuring the two nations’ leaders making escalating threats against the other were shared widely online. These videos were later revealed to be deepfakes, computer-generated copies of the leaders that use artificial intelligence to mimic their voices. The deepfake videos were likely created by the same party behind the hacks. However, the increasingly antagonistic speeches recorded by the respective leaders in response to the deepfake videos were quite real.
The cyberattack culminated with hackers gaining access to China’s missile defense system and making it seem like an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) had been launched by Russia, targeted toward Beijing. At the same time, the hackers gained access to Russia’s missile defense system and made them think an ICBM had been launched by China, targeted toward Moscow. As a result, each country launched a retaliatory missile toward the capital city of the opposite nation. By the time they realized the original ICBM alerts were false alarms, it was too late to call off the responses. The combined death toll from the nuclear bombings in both cities is currently 4.3 million, but the potential long-tail casualties from radioactive fallout are unknown.
The hackers tried to make both countries think further ICBMs had been launched toward multiple cities throughout the respective countries, but thankfully each nation’s cybersecurity teams managed to discover the hacks before assuring total mutual destruction. All signs point to the cyberattack being a military intelligence operation aimed at weakening the Eastern hemisphere. The United States blames North Korea while North Korea blames the United States. Israel is blaming Iran; Iran is blaming Israel. While no nation-state has claimed responsibility for the hacks, both Russia and China have vowed nuclear retaliation the instant the perpetrator is identified.