Expert: World War III Will Be Cyber War

The massive power outages in the Northeast following the freak October 29 snowstorm showed just how personally and professionally dependent we've become on our electronic devices. Left without electricity, Starbucks (and other similar venues offering a Wi-Fi oasis) in the affected areas were jammed with strung-out people 50% of whom were suffering caffeine withdrawal and the other 50% suffering Internet cravings.

But the disruption after a natural disaster is only a minor part of a a national and international security menance according to SkyNews in the U.K. in an interview with Internet security expert Eugene Kaspersky:

"I don't want to speak about it. I don't even want to think about it," he said.

"But we are close, very close, to cyber terrorism. Perhaps already the criminals have sold their skills to the terrorists - and then...oh, God."

Speaking privately at the London Cyber Conference, Kaspersky told Sky that he believed that cyber terrorism was the biggest immediate threat to have emerged to confront nations as diverse as China and the US.

"There is already cyber espionage, cyber crime, hacktivisim (when activists attack networks for political ends) soon we will be facing cyber terrorism," he said.