Top Internet expert sees cyber 'world war' ahead

For the past few years fears have been mounting amongst the top Internet security experts in the world that a cyber war could break out that is 'catastrophic' to the entire integrity of the Web.

Now, one of the leading experts, the Russian math genius Eugene Kaspersky has issued a warning that such a cyber 'world war' may be imminent.

Kaspersky, the brains behind one of the top anti-virus products on the market, points to recent national security threats such as Stuxnet and others. Programs designed to infiltrate, raid, monitor, or damage computer systems were first employed by individual hackers, and then criminals, and now sovereign states and terrorist organizations.

bring about a US economic collapse.

Currently, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission came to the conclusion that a "cyber state of war" exists between America and China.

When asked by SkyNews how dire is the situation, Kaspersky replied: "I don't want to speak about it. I don't even want to think about it. But we are close, very close, to cyber terrorism. Perhaps already the criminals have sold their skills to the terrorists—and then…oh, God."

Responding to a flurry of further questions by Sky, the security expert voiced his deep-seated conviction that among the spectrum of threats terrorism was the worst immediate one.

Richard Clarke, former cyber czar, emphasizes that the US has already suffered potentially debilitating attacks. Within the last several years computer security experts discovered that a team of hackers had breached the defenses of the nation's electrical grid and planted a software 'bomb' that could be activated to initiate a cascading failure of generating plants across the country.

While the debate still rages in security circles as to the nationality of the hacking team, most believe the Chinese or Russians were behind it. [See "Why former anti-terrorism czar believes a cyber attack could bring US collapse"]

Clarke's Doomsday scenario

Clarke envisions a cyber attack beginning with emerging reports across America of catastrophes: refinery fires, nuclear generating plant emergencies, chemical plant mishaps releasing deadly gases…

The nation's power grid is attacked, the banking and securities servers of Wall Street and all major exchanges, air traffic control flight computers and even larger medical facilities collapse.

Havoc ensues.

Distribution networks no longer exist. Food cannot be transported to grocery stores. Shipping grinds to a halt and most of the nation's trains and trucks sit helpless.

Chaos leads to major accidents; tens of thousands are killed. Rioting and looting in some major cities follows and martial law is declared nationwide.

Clarke contends the aftermath will be akin to a limited nuclear attack. And as his book so effectively argues, not one weapon will be fired, no foreign enemy has entered US territory and trillions will be lost over the ensuing weeks.

The whole attack, he says, might last only 15 minutes.