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Motivations for attacks: stealing intellectual property/trade secrets, disrupting business and causing economic damage.
Increasingly diffuse and decentralized data storage and management - including use of mobile devices, USB sticks, cloud computing, and Wifi - create a growing opportunity to spy and steal.
Cyber-spying is inexpensive and relatively easy to do. It's also low risk, because it's almost impossible to prove.
Third party criminal gangs operating for a government or business entity often carry out attacks.
Russia ran the first known cyber-spying operation in 1993. The People's Republic of China was in the game a decade later.
Companies operating in China are particularly at risk. These include major corporations, law firms, public relations firms, trade organizations and others.
In 2008, AP reported that Chinese hackers targeted a big New York law firm, attempting to steal key documents pertaining to a major international business deal.
In 2009, the FBI issued a warning that hackers, particularly in China and Russia, were using phishing and other methods to gain entry into corporate systems and steal sensitive information.
Hacking and intrusion capabilities typically revolve around planting Trojan Horses, botnets, rootkits, and other rogue software tools on targeted systems.
March 2009: a spy network based in China is shown to have hacked computers in 103 countries; more than 1,300 computers at government and business sites were compromised.
April 2010: Another spy network originating in China, dubbed Shadow, exposed; it aimed at computers in many countries, including systems operated by the Indian government.
The Chinese hackers got documents about security in Indian states, info on India's relationship with Russia and African and Middle Eastern nations.
China denied government involvement; compromised accounts on Yahoo! Mail, Twitter, Google Groups, and blog sites were traced back to Chengdu, China.
January 2010: Google reported that it and 20 other large companies were subject to cyber spying by China-based groups. It later ended operations in China.
Other countries suspected of political and economic espionage include: Russia, North Korea, Iran, Israel, France, the US and UK.
The risk of cyber-warfare is growing. It could accompany a conventional attack or disrupt business and wreak economic havoc in a targeted country.
Government sites and networks are most likely targets in a war; The Net, power grids, telecom networks, flight control systems, and financial networks are also at risk.
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