The desire to steal the intellectual property (IP) of others, be they creative individuals or company teams working in patent pools to create new innovations, remains the same. Political methods have become more sophisticated in terms of devaluing the output of creative humans by creating open- source access, which can be taken freely by all and sundry. What has changed is the new cyber- based technology that allows increased theft of IP. Likewise, warfare for geo- political imperatives is not new but sophisticated cyber- based methods that can actually carry out infrastructural damage through cyberspace are new and are accordingly termed cyberwarfare. How cyber strategies are used in IP theft and cyberwarfare in relation to new complex digital technology such as the Internet of Things (IoT) is explored in relation to particular essential sectors in the economy: marine, smart energy power grids and insurance. Country- specifi c studies based on either being the recipient or perpetrator (or both) of cyberattacks provide analysis in relation to Japan, China and North Korea, Russia, Europe (the UK in particular), Iran and the USA.