"[[Reuters) - Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned on Thursday that a major cyber attack is a looming threat and could have the same sort of impact as last year's Superstorm Sandy, which knocked out electricity in a large swathe of the Northeast.

Napolitano said a "cyber 9/11" could happen "imminently" and that critical infrastructure - including water, electricity and gas - was very vulnerable to such a strike."

Link to full article

This strikes me as a bit of hyperbole, maybe positioning her department in the upcoming budget cuts. Also 9/11 while a a tragic event it was a mere blip on both damage to and effect on the economy as a whole.

Nonetheless, the vulnerabilities exist and are growing proportionate to our dependency on the internet. The first shots have been fired with Stuxnet, Shamoon and other weaponized viruses. Want a job with a secure future, I tell young people, go into cyber security.

Does this keep you awake at night?