CYBER-WAR – AT 9:34 A.M. ET:  Computer experts have predicted cyber-wars for years – conflicts in which major websites are hacked, or flooded, by competitors or aggressors.  The time has come.

In retaliation for the arrest of Wikileaks leader Julian Assange, his allies are assaulting "enemy" websites across the web.  The Wall Street Journal reports:

A growing list of organizations and individuals that have tangled with WikiLeaks and its detained founder, Julian Assange, have suffered online attacks, in what appears to be an effort by hackers bent on exacting revenge for the document-leaking website.

The attacks stepped up Wednesday, a day after Mr. Assange was arrested and denied bail in London in connection with sexual-misconduct accusations in Sweden. A range of organizations, including MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc., and the Swedish prosecutor's office, reported technical difficulties with their websites that appear to stem from so-called denial of service attacks, in which computers flood a server to prevent it from displaying a Web page.

The attacks in recent days have hit eBay Inc.'s PayPal as well as MasterCard, both of which have pulled services from WikiLeaks in recent days. Also affected: Swiss bank PostFinance. The unit of Swiss Post recently closed Mr. Assange's account, saying he provided a false address in Geneva, failing to meet the bank's requirement of Swiss residency for account holders. While the attacks caused some business disruption, they were mostly annoying rather than crippling.

And...

"http://www.mastercard.com/ is DOWN! #ddos #wikileaks Operation:Payback," said one post under the name "Anon_Operation," whose Twitter page is identified as part of Operation Payback, a campaign against "anti-piracy & anti-freedom entities."

Social network Facebook Inc. removed the "Operation Payback" page on its site late Wednesday after the group used the page to urge hackers to launch an unlawful denial of service attack.

COMMENT:  What is disturbing here is that an operation like WikiLeaks, which itself is small, can have sympathizers all over the world willing to use their computers to hurt "the enemy."  That makes every knowledgeable computer owner a potential soldier in a cyber war.  I'm afraid what Wiki and its friends are doing is just the beginning.  Computer security firms will probably get very rich on this. 

It makes us wonder, and worry, about how secure the U.S. Government's computer systems are.  The Pentagon is run by computers.  But how good are our systems, especially if confronted with an attack by another nation, not just a group?

Warfare always reinvents itself.

December 9, 2010