the_perfect_weapon_113805.html

One thing that bothers me about cyber stuff is that unlike supersonic modern combat aircraft, or attack submarines, or ballistic missile submarines, or even infantry battalions, cyber capabilities can be plausibly developed by individuals or small groups without a lot of resources. You don't have to have a Boeing, or a Raytheon, or a Northrop Grumman, or even an Army in order to develop a very active capability to do bad things with a computer.

Taking that concern another step, enemies that make use of organized crime, and/or coerce or bribe vulnerable individuals to act on their behalf, and/or make use of angry sympathizers abroad that maybe having difficulty assimilating, can carry out cyber attacks as "special war" even in the absence of open armed conflict. Cybersecurity is now its own industry. What do some of the folks who work in that industry do in their spare time? This can extend outside of government employment and contracting - it is a private sector activity. Right now, industry is hurting for competent techs. The whole problem, from a CI perspective (which I admit I don't have any insight into - I'm just going with common sense here) is alarming.

All someone needs to do is break through all firewalls and install a virus that can cripple the ones they're spying on.

9/11 was a failure of imagination. Cyber, is our opportunity to use imagination. There is some great projects out there... some are not going to make funding, but ideas need to be saved.