Last week we spent time understanding the CIA of computer security and why we should be concerned with confidentiality, integrity and availability. While we focused on how this impacts individuals, this week we’ll look at just how critical protecting technology is for a nation.

During wartime, we typically become more aware of the possibilities of information warfare. (Or perhaps not, with 60 million+ people voting on American Idol – but I digress). Anyway, some of us are informed that nations are engaging in ways to disrupt other nation’s information infrastructure and that those methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated. This becomes particularly onerous when we realize just how critical technology is for our everyday activities.

As we know, civilians aren’t the only one’s dependent on technology. Most of the images that we see of Iraq today show troops on the ground – shooting, fighting, etc. What we typically don’t see are the technological tools used to control the military vehicles, weapons systems and communication systems that soldiers must depend on. Imagine those tools being compromised.

Interestingly enough, during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, Saddam Hussein was offered some very hot information, that had he bought, could have possibly changed the outcome of that war. According to some reports, 34 American military sites were breached by hackers from the Netherlands. The computers that they attacked contained important information about Operation Desert Storm, such as the exact location of military troops, weapon details, and the movement of American warships. Imagine what could have happened had Saddam not thought this was a trick?

Within the last few weeks, Russia has been accused of cyber attacks against Estonia (yes, go ahead and dust off that atlas). The websites of Estonia’s government ministries, banks, companies and newspapers have been disabled. Even NATO has sent some of its top cyberterrorism experts to investigate the situation and to help the Estonians augment their electronic defenses.

So, while there a plenty of examples, we should recognize that today, nations must protect their critical infrastructures against cyber attacks. Later on we’ll cover popular attack methods, but for now, realize that our nation’s next war might be more about the rise of the machines and less about human battles.