The next cash cow is Cyberwarfare

[Cain]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=an2_Z6u1JPGw

lurn2h4x, n00bz!

Srsly though...while I understand that there is a gaping big hole in national security and part of that hole would be blocked by a competent cyberwarfare strategy...I still can't shake the feeling that, China and Russia aside, this is a hyped threat.  Russia and China of course do have well developed Information Warfare systems and strategies, as well as deniable but controlled third parties who they can turn to for technical expertise, but equally their size and dependence on the infrastructure necessary for such well developed systems leaves them very open to pressure from other areas should they push things too far with their cyber shenannigans.

And as for the worry about non-state actors with PCs...well, the guys in Al-Qaeda aren't exactly up on the whole WMD thing yet*, so it may take them quite a while for them to see computers as anything more than useful for propaganda and training purposes.

I expect to see computer security theatre pushed hard if this Bloomberg report is true though, just like after 9/11, when aviation and anti-terrorist tech and expertise were the new growth industry.

(*Interviews with Al-Qaeda members show that, interestingly, the very inner core around Bin Laden excepted, most had not considered WMDs as weapons, and were more than content with kalashnikovs and fertilizer-derived bombs, both of which have the advantage of being cheap and relatively easy to use).