It was an absolutely gorgeous Saturday afternoon and the Jones family was at play. During the past 10 years, the family has joined the inter-connected
Internet world, embracing all of the technological advances - and vulnerabilities - it has to offer. And so have the hackers.

The Jones' all have smartphones. Suzy, now 13, lives on hers, and has more than 800 Facebook friends she can talk to via her phone's Internet connection.
Jim, now 17 and looking to go to college next year, also hangs out online a lot, either chatting with his friends or playing interactive video games with online buddies he finds through his PlayStation 3. Dad and Mom, too, are attached at the hip to their phones, which double as offices when they aren't at work. Sometimes, mom jokes that she doesn't really even need to go online via her "old" computer anymore - her phone brings her the Internet, a GPS locator, a notepad for grocery lists, a navigation map, an iPod, and her office email; dad's phone does the same and more for him, he has an app that can program TV shows, look at a "webcam" to check his home and property; and get real time game scores. The family is completely connected. Yes, they'd heard countless stories about identity theft, and credit card theft - their bank even calls them now if there was an unusual withdrawal and they have learned to contact their credit card company to alert them in advance of a trip out of town - but so far, they've escaped. Even so, if they looked closer and thought a bit more, they'd see that the Internet had taken over their world, because not only were the Jones' completely connected, so were factories, utilities, nuclear facilities, and financial institutions - virtually all our country's critical infrastructure.

On this particular September day, when Jim visited Twitter, a tiny piece of software was downloaded into his computer. He never knew anything had happened; he received no alerts from his antivirus or firewall software. Sure, a few days later his computer seemed sluggish, but that was all. What is happening to Jim's computer happens to millions of innocent computers every day. It is the opening volley in what could amount to an attack on Jim and his personal information, or worse, it could be the first shot in a targeted cyber war. Since the advent of PCs and the subsequent invention of the Internet, networks and interconnectedness have resulted in great advances and great vulnerability. These threats range from someone emptying your bank account to hijacking your PC and inflicting harm unbeknownst to you. Though work has been done, we are still not ready for tomorrow - because the cyber battle has already begun....and we are playing catch up. Read the monograph.

Thanks to Council member General Dynamics IT for sponsoring this monograph.