01 Feb 10. Visiongain calculates that the global cyberwarfare market was worth a total of $8.12bn in 2009. Visiongain expects to continue to see significant sales growth. The means for launching cyber weapons are cheap, easily accessible and quickly deployable. Cyber attacks are becoming more frequent and more sophisticated. The potential for massive disruption has made cyberwarfare a major cause for concern for the governments of all nations. Estonia came under cyber attack in 2007 at the time of a political dispute with Russia. The internet sites of Estonian banks, companies, government ministries, newspapers and political parties were targeted by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. A year later, Georgian web pages were attacked by civilians as Russia carried out real-world military strikes during the South Ossetia War. During 2009, serious cyber incidents continued to occur, with attacks on the institutions of countries including South Korea and the US. In January 2010, it was reported that Google was considering withdrawing from China after its network suffered a sophisticated cyber attack. Google claimed that the email accounts of Chinese human rights activists had been targeted. As the threat of cyber attacks becomes more serious, demand from governments and armed forces for more effective computer security tools is likely to grow. The use of computers to wage war in cyberspace and deployment of defensive measures to protect critical networks is on the rise. More governments are anticipated to accelerate plans to develop both defensive and offensive cyberwarfare capabilities, as well as establishing dedicated centres for co-ordinating cyber responses. The cyber-security boom offers a range of business opportunities for both defence companies and software developers. (Source: ASD Network)