The programmers behind the ongoing wave of computer worms and viruses hitting the Internet are starting to take aim at each other, and consumers and businesses around the world are getting caught in the crossfire, according to computer security experts.
A teenage hacker launched an attack on a chatroom user that brought chaos to America's busiest seaport in what police believe to be the first electronic attack to disable a critical part of a country's infrastructure.
The revelation that a computer worm disabled a safety system in a US nuclear power station in January has led to fresh calls for security on electricity grids to be overhauled. Experts say much of the grid's critical infrastructure is too accessible to the virus-ridden public internet.
The number of organized hacking syndicates targeting financial institutions around the world is growing at a disturbingly fast rate. And so is the number of banks willing to pay these high-tech extortionists hush money to protect their reputations, according to a security expert at The World Bank.
Josh Martin argues that to defend against devastating cyberwarfare attacks, the U.S. needs to reach-out to hacker community and utilize its talents to defend our critical infrastructures.
Power and energy companies are fast becoming a primary target of computer hackers who have managed to penetrate energy control networks as well as administrative systems, according to government cyber-terrorism officials and private security experts.
Despite growing government concern that al Qaeda and its allies may try to use computers to disrupt electrical power grids, transportation systems and emergency communication networks, many experts on terrorism and computer security are skeptical about the overall menace of cyber-terrorism.
Recent advances in genomics and the plummeting cost of supercomputer power have made it possible for "garage hobbyists" to tinker with human and animal genomes.
Noting that a cyberterrorist attack could have grave consequences on the battlefield, the Army's top information security officer warned that the military must take a more proactive approach to defending its critical information systems.
The author argues that the recent string of intelligence successes against al Qaeda is due to our superior 'hacking' capabilities.