Vladimir Putin may have done us a big favor

Until now, the Internet has mainly created new avenues for old behaviors. Roughly nine of 10 computer breaches involve theft or business espionage, finds the Verizon study. For individuals, these can be devastating. For companies, they represent unfair competition that, for some firms, may be fatal. Still, in an imperfect world, these are familiar evils.

What Putin and Russian hackers allegedly did shatters this pattern. Their hacking — as interpreted by both the CIA and the FBI — qualifies as state-sponsored aggression. It does jeopardize our way of life. It undermines the integrity of our political institutions and popular faith in them. More than this, it warns us that our physical safety and security are at risk. Hostile hackers can hijack power grids, communication networks, transportation systems and much more.

You cannot do a cost-benefit analysis of something that imperils society’s economic and political foundations. The plausible cost is infinite. The rise of cyberattacks, says a recent report from the American Enterprise Institute, ranks with three great strategic shifts in military history — first, the rise of sea power; next, the advent of air power; and most recently, the opening of space.