I can imagine an espionage mod that attacks a civ telecommunications directly. "Any potential political or diplomatic dispute can now be expected to include a significant online component,"
In April, Estonia removed the two-metre monument from its original perch at Liberators' Square in central Tallinn and placed it in the more inconspicuous cemetery, sparking Russian outrage.
The Web sites of the Estonian Prime Minister, Parliament, Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications all went down.
He said attacks like the one that took Estonia's Web sites offline are costly and disruptive but not that damaging-- yet.
"The problem, though, is it wouldn't be that much more of an effort to move to that more damaging attack," said Mr. Lewis, director of the think-tank's Technology and Public Policy Program.
"Suppose they scramble all the databases? Suppose they scramble all the tax records? Suppose they scramble everyone's SIN numbers? Suppose they change your medical prescription? There's a lot of things you could do to damage information that would be messy."
Russia's online assault on Estonia is part of an emerging field called Information Operations. Many countries now have both a doctrine and capability to fight in cyberspace, which some argue has become a fourth theatre of war after land, sea and air.
http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/story.html?id=c3a21871-c6c0-48bf-8d00-5774163e2600&k=42728