Enmity in the ether

THERE is a war going on out there. Not one of guns and bombs or marching feet but of bits, bytes and servers. It is a silent war — it clicks and whirls — unseen. In the brave new globally interconnected world in which we are constantly reminded that information is king this 'cyber-war' is being fought on several fronts. Where China appears to be specialising in stealing politically and economically useful information through organised hacking, Russia almost certainly sponsored cyber attacks as a prelude to its military intervention in Georgia in 2008. Government, political and banking sites were targeted.

 Then there is Julian Assange who has recently released online many thousands of leaked diplomatic documents much to the embarrassment of governments and political figures alike. The reaction on the part of those governments appears to have included applying pressure to businesses that deal with Mr Assange's WikiLeaks website to get them to withdraw their services. Mastercard and Amazon amongst them. And this in turn has prompted a group known as 'Anonymity' to hit out at these businesses via cyber attacks on their websites orchestrated by co-ordinating the actions of thousands of computer owners acting in concert to bring their websites down.

 The government recognises the threat from cyberattack. Not just the fear of stolen information but the possibility that our electricity grid or air traffic control or defence systems might be vulnerable. As a result the Home Secretary, Theresa May, recently announced an increased investment of £500 million for greater security measures. This is much needed. The challenges are significant and also highly uncertain. For it is not just the big states that can play this game but, as the recent history of WikiLeaks demonstrates, the man or woman next door as well.