Well it could get real real bad, but it probably won't. Remember all the speculation prior to the "Y2K" problem? The water plants would shut down the nuclear plants would go offline the air traffic control centers would be shut down, hence the airports would be down, the missiles Russia still has aimed at us would launch, yada yada yada.

All of that could happen. But I'm fairly sure most of these crackers are either employed by the Chinese gov't or are known to them and can be controlled by that heavy-handed gov't.

China does not want to disrupt America business or our gov't; that would be bad for China's business interests.

But in the future, when China will be stronger and even richer, the spectre of cyber-warfare does raise its head.
It's a whole lot cheaper than military action and let's face it; America knows how to do military reaction and has lots of equipment and manpower with which to react. They have whole buildings full of contingency plans and experience and training and money and troops.

But can you imagine having to rely on the DHS and NSA for security? (see "capital S sucks", above)

Good to see Robert O'Harrow examining cyber-security. His previous work at the Washington Post on privacy and data security issues, coupled with his book No Place To Hide, set the bar for all reporting in this area.
I look forward to Robert continuing to focus in this area where government and the private sector often intersect.

If there were more ISP's instead of just a handful minding the big gateways--we'd be safer. Apple computers, due to low market share, rarely suffers from cyber attacks as Window's users. That fact, suggests that if we had 100 times more ISP's providing service, the incentive to hack in, would diminish as "not worth the effort" if the American market were broken down into significantly smaller market shares.

"Competition is what made America great," or so we're told, although we haven't heard this slogan in a long time. In a healthy competitive market where things are continually changing, it's like trying to hit a moving target. But in a stale and unhealthy market with little competition--we're sitting ducks--and paying the price.

It is all about competition for resources and markets, political control and the very basic greed of the powerful. This will make the potential of a nightmare situation sooner or later, real.
It has been said that information is the new currency for membership in society and has become a new wealth source for many. If the nations that educate only their best(that outnumbers our entire population in schools now) to work on the cyber side of the "new currency" issue, they will eventually find themselves in a prime position to influence the economic and social frameworks well outside their own borders. Churchill said that WWII was won "in the school yards" - we are losing that battle.
I always question my leadership, but, I absolutely believe in our system.
Statist Capitalism, that perversion of the ideal, has become the new totalitarian form outside our borders. Our Constitution is always attacked because it has some deliberate inconveniences built in for governmental power use. I can imagine that other power acquiring governments (and individuals)are not likely to hamper themselves.
In our favor is developing powers, like China, are building new separate centers for wealth and power. What is against us is that they are soon to be in a position to just ignore any influence we have had. If they buy up all the resources (or maybe just take all they want) the results are preety rough for everyone else.
What we need to do is use our technical advancement and industry to pull out of their reach. And there is the point where the governments outside this country look to hack our systems - they want our stuff so they could jump ahead, not earn it, steal it.

I suspect that the Chinese will continue their efforts. The government of China, whether it be imperial, the short lived Republic, or communist sees China as an organic system. The government is part of the people, the culture and is seen as the life blood of 'lived life'. Therefore,if cyber attacks continue to keep the government safe, the cyber attacks will continue. The United States is the enemy, if for no other reason than it is the largest economic power in the world with leaders which actively uses its military might for geo-political purposes.

Of secondary importance to the Chinese leadership is the immediate economic welfare of the country. Remember, this is the government which used troops who did not understand Mandarin to suppress the student pro-democracy uprising in Bejing not so long ago.

I would not be suprised to learn that the Chinese are supporting Russian hackers. In its past, China has pursued a policy of using far off threats to control near threats (in this case, the economic power of the US is closer than that of the Russians).

We have lousy IT security in the US military for one simple reason: management.

Security costs money, in the form of time, skills, and most importantly, prioritized requirements. The Defense Department does a poor job managing any one of these three, especially the third.

Gates needs to sack a lot more middle and upper-level managers and not just in the Air Force.