The report states that the world has just awakened to the realization that cyber warfare, espionage and cyber terrorism have all become a reality. There are more than 120 countries with cyber weapons programs and active espionage programs and an untold number of extremist groups acquiring these capabilities. Countries around the world must now respond to these emerging threats. The question is just how vulnerable are we? The stark reality is that most organizations are not prepared to respond to or defend against a cyber war or cyber espionage much less an acts of cyber terrorism. China is rated second in the world in terms of their Cyber Warfare Capabilities.
China is known for its long-standing policy of conducting cyber espionage at the highest levels of foreign governments. It seems this policy has been expanded to include major corporations and defense contractors. So they now have a reputation of hacking computers and stealing data, and sensitive technology. Recently, China has been accused of running international cyber-espionage rings that have gained access to strategic corporate and defense information from countries including Australia, Britain, Germany, India, New Zealand and the US. Even though Britain's MI5 spy chief Jonathan Evans backs the claims, China is denying the claims. In February of 2008, U.S. senator said that America’s cyber defenses are way too lax. Recent Justice Department documents suggest the Chinese are unrelenting in their attempts to pry into American military and trade secrets.
All security professionals need to be aware that in cyberspace some malicious actors consider that no boundaries exist between military and civilian targets. In 2007, government agencies were targeted the most, reporting more than 70 million attacks, while manufacturing ranked second with 45 million attacks, financial services ranked third with approximately 34 million, and healthcare received more than 20 million attacks.
