But the same features that make digital networks pervasive in everyday life also make them ready conduits for viruses, worms and other forms of malicious software that can destroy the wealth and welfare of unsuspecting users.

More ominously, clever attackers potentially can manipulate the system so it ceases to function entirely, leading to widespread deprivation, disorder and even defeat at the hands of a foreign power.

Recent trends in the evolution of cyber threats have led many experts to believe the danger is growing worse.

First, malicious software is proliferating at such an alarming rate that new applications may outnumber legitimate software releases.

Second, as these malicious programs are shared on the Internet, predators are becoming more subtle and sophisticated in their efforts.

Third, attacks increasingly seem to be originating from well-resourced operators such as governments rather than disaffected freelancers. And fourth, the tools for combating threats -- for detecting and blocking and tracing attacks -- are not keeping up with the danger.

In recent years the U.S. armed forces and intelligence agencies have faced rapidly escalating attacks on their information networks from countries such as Russia and China, and from a vast array of less capable perpetrators.

This facet of the cyber threat is largely invisible to the general public, because the government is not eager to advertise its vulnerabilities or how much it knows about who is mounting the attacks.

One measure of the danger, though, is the Bush administration's decision to launch a Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative to protect government networks during its final year in office. The initiative was reported to be the biggest new item in the fiscal 2009 intelligence budget.

Military planners and intelligence analysts have long known that adversaries would seek to compromise U.S. networks in wartime. The idea of targeting key nodes in enemy networks has a long history that predates the Information Age, as reflected in the plan of the U.S. Army Air Forces to target electrical grids, refineries and communication nodes in World War II.

But the advent of digital networks has added a new twist to this strategy. In the past, the U.S. military was concerned mainly with "kinetic" attacks on its networks using high-explosive munitions, or gross "non-kinetic" effects such as the electromagnetic pulse generated by nuclear blasts. Today, it must also worry about more elusive dangers such as malicious software that undermines the reliability and security of vital systems.

(Next: Paralyzing the U.S. armed forces by cell phone and lap top)

(Loren B. Thompson is chief executive officer of the Lexington Institute, an Arlington, Va.-based think tank that supports democracy and the free market.)

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

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