US powerless against cyber 8216;doomsday8217; attack: Panel

The report warns dramatically that US defence capabilities and its economy are practically at the mercy of computer mercenaries, cybercriminals8217; and cyberterrorists.8217;

US law enforcement agencies are 8220;five to ten years behind the transnational crime curve,8221; a gap at least partially attributable to the fact that it takes a government agency an average of 49 months to buy, install and use a new computer system, versus nine months in the private sector.

The report Cybercrime, Cyberterrorism, Cyberwarfare8217; says that information warfare specialists at the Pentagon estimate that a properlyprepared and well coordinated attack by fewer than 30 computer virtuosos around the world, with a budget of less than 10 million dollars, could bring the United States to its knees.

Such an attack 8220;would shut down everything from electric power grids to air traffic control centres,8221; the report says.

8220;America8217;s adversaries know that the country8217;s real assets are in electronic storage, not in Fort Knox. Virtual corporations, cashless electronic transactions, and economies without inventories8230; will make attacks on data just as destructive as attacks on actual physical inventories.

8220;Bytes, not bullets, are the real ammo,8221; the report said.

Using the tools of information warfare, cyberterrorists can overload telephone lines with special software; disrupt the operations of air traffic control as well as shipping; scramble software used by major financial institutions; alter the formul as for medication at pharmaceutical plants; change the pressure in gas pipeline to cause a valve failure; and sabotagethe New York Stock Exchange.

The CSIS offered some recommendations, most notably that the President order an exhaustive review of the dangers inherent in computer technology and that the military and computer establishments do more to prepare themselves to confront the new challenges.