EW and cyber look like separate worlds, but they are becoming ever more intertwined. Doctrine therefore groups them together as CEMA (Cyber and Electromagnetic Activities). The reason: both work through and against the same digital systems — and the EM spectrum is often the way in to those systems.
- EW works through the electromagnetic spectrum: transmitting, jamming, deceiving, listening (What is Electronic Warfare?–13).
- Cyber works through networks and data: penetrating, manipulating, denying.
- The overlap: modern weapons and sensors are essentially computers that communicate wirelessly. That makes the spectrum the wireless attack route into a network that otherwise has no cable to it.