The future of cyber-wars 3.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin
• Position: Special Report

Army Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, sees a day in the not too distant future when attacks on computer networks cross the line from theft and disruption to "destruction."

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And this chaos will not all take place in the digital world of ones and zeroes. He is referring to remote adversaries taking down infrastructure such as power grids, dams, transportation systems and other sectors that use computer-based industrial controls.

The last decade has seen mostly exploitation by adversaries, or the theft of money and intellectual property. Next came distributed denial of service attacks when hackers overwhelm networks and disrupt operations of businesses or other organizations, Alexander said at a recent Woodrow Wilson Center panel discussion on cyber-security.

Other than intercontinental ballistic missiles and acts of terrorism, an adversary seeking to reach out and harm the United States has only one other option: destructive cyber-attacks, Alexander said.

This could result in loss of life and damage to the economy on par with what occurred after 9/11.

"All of that is within the realm of the possible," he said. "I believe that is coming our way. We have to be out in front of this," Alexander said.

How to thwart such attacks is the problem the nation is facing.

Most of the Internet's infrastructure through which malware is delivered is in the private sector's hands. So too are the banking, energy, transportation and other institutions that are vulnerable to the attacks.

During the past year, there have been 200 attacks on core critical infrastructures in the transportation, energy, and communication industries reported to the Department of Homeland Security, said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

"And that is only the tip of the iceberg. Undoubtedly there are more that have not been reported," she said during the panel.

"In this case, the dots have already been connected. The alarm has already been sounded, and we know it is only a matter of when, not whether we have a catastrophic attack," she said.

Alexander, Collins and others are advocating for a more coordinated national effort to share information on cyberthreats. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency have loads of expertise, but can't always share classified information, or cross lines when it comes to the privacy of U.S. citizens. The rest of the federal...