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.

U.S. Networks Hacked By Cyber Criminals

As a result of other writing projects, we've been a bit behind on regular posting, and we're making a concerted effort to catch up. Thanks for staying with us!

Several weeks the Washington Post reported on a huge cyberterrorism attack against U.S. computer networks

More than 75,000 computer systems at nearly 2,500 companies in the United States and around the world have been hacked in what appears to be one of the largest and most sophisticated attacks by cyber criminals discovered to date, according to a northern Virginia security firm.

The attack, which began in late 2008 and was discovered last month, targeted proprietary corporate data, e-mails, credit-card transaction data and login credentials at companies in the health and technology industries in 196 countries, according to Herndon-based NetWitness.

News of the attack follows reports last month that the computer networks at Google and more than 30 other large financial, energy, defense, technology and media firms had been compromised. Google said the attack on its system originated in China.

This latest attack does not appear to be linked to the Google intrusion, said Amit Yoran, NetWitness's chief executive. But it is significant, he said, in its scale and in its apparent demonstration that the criminal groups' sophistication in cyberattacks is approaching that of nation states such as China and Russia.

The attack also highlights the inability of the private sector -- including industries that would be expected to employ the most sophisticated cyber defenses -- to protect itself.