Cyber terror: Australia faces the storm

in brief Cyber Storm II, the international simulation of a coordinated attack on global cyber infrastructure, starts this week.

The exercise, lead by the US Department of Homeland Security, will include Australian government and industry -- including IT, transportation, banking, communications, energy and water -- as well as Canada, New Zealand and the UK.

The enemy in Cyber Storm II will form coordinated cyber and physical attacks. The cyber attacks will likely involve a simulated massive Internet disruption, but will not impact any live networks.

The exercise, coordinated from Washington, is based on the assumption that any cyber-asset can be compromised given sufficient funding.