Cyber expert warns that future security warfare may be on the horizon

Thursday, November 03, 2011

So-called cyber warfare has been broached in the past, but one security expert recently claimed the world is on the brink of this new type of destruction that could potentially eviscerate government IT defenses.

According to a recent Sky News report, security expert Eugene Kaspersky recently spoke at a conference in London addressing the current cyber landscape.

"[W]e are close, very close, to cyber terrorism," he said at the conference, according to the news provider. "Perhaps already the criminals have sold their skills to the terrorists - and then ... oh, God."

Security breaches are not only targeting commercial organizations, but governments as well. Kaspersky added that nations such as China and the United States are extremely vulnerable to potential cyber terrorist attacks, Sky News reported.

The U.S. government is expected to increase its IT spending in 2011 and 2012 and security is a large part of its plans. According to a recent study conducted by by immixGroup at the Federal IT FY2012 Budget Briefing, agencies have already begun integrating their security systems into their cloud computing and mobile infrastructures.