CyberWar, CyberTerror, CyberCrime: A Guide to the Role of Standards in an Environment of Change and Danger

Chapter 2. CyberAttack: It’s a Dangerous World for Information Systems

	‘It doesn’t matter much, does it? If we lose some critical infrastructure, we’re still screwed.’
	--Ryan Russell (2001)[8]

In 1981, science fiction author Frederick Pohl published a novel entitled The Cool War. It describes a future world in which war has been forbidden after the destruction of the oil supply in the Middle East. Despite this ban, however, nations continue to battle at lower levels of conflict. Workers are intentionally infected with virulent strains of flu, power supplies are sabotaged leading to regular power failures, and water supplies are drained. While these actions could not be considered warfare, they quickly become draining nuisances with devastating ...