As everyone around the world knows, China has become quite the cyber-espionage powerhouse, enabling them for many years to "leap frog" over their own technological developments by exploiting the advancements in the West to save time and money.

Already this year the U.S. has experienced multitudes of IW exploits, including an attack on an oil refinery site and at least 33 major intellectual property attacks against several leading commercial software companies.  These companies employ some of the best and brightest application developers in the U.S., and their source code, algorithms, and specifically, the methodology involved in the evolutionary ways in which we currently think and process information have been extrapolated and are now in the hands of an unscrupulous competitor.

Looking through past and recent events in China's political, industrial, university and social activities and motives, it is very reasonable to predict that the next wave of cyber attacks will be against the Bio and NanoTechnology laboratory and research facilities, and here's why:

The BioTechnology impact will reach far beyond the health care and pharmaceuticals industry and into areas obscure to common thought.  It is these obscure areas that many times hold the greatest opportunity and disruptive power.

NanoTechnology is an obscure science to many and one that only recently began to gain the attention of the press.  It allows for the development and construction of materials one atom at a time.  It is difficult to imagine an industry that will not be impacted as this advanced research becomes commercialized in the next several years.

The combination of Nano and BioTech will evolve (and has been evolving) into the next major revolution - "The Materials Age".

The economic and political implications of winning or losing the battle to be number one in this technology could cause a shift in global power.

Numerous laboratories in the U.S. have already experienced major exploits from the Chinese and fear the attack landscape they are facing in the upcoming months and years ahead.

A 2005 report from the U.S. National Academies of Science, Rising Above the Gathering Storm warns that the U.S. "could lose its privileged position" in science, with "new competitors just a 'mouse click' away."

Demos , one of the U.K.'s most influential think tanks, published China: The Next Science Superpower? in 2007.  Their report indicates that:

" 'While there is a marked improvement in the university sector, both in terms of the quantity of graduates [with around 350,000 IT graduates in 2004], and also the quality of degrees and PhDs, it would be wrong to underplay the challenges that China must confront as it seeks to become an 'innovation-oriented society.' "

Noted in an interview with Ze Zhang, (the Vice President of Beijing University of Technology) on May 26, 2006 after the general assembly of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CAST):

" 'Everyone there was talking constantly of innovation.  But I think we are only just beginning to understand what that word really means.  It's like gears grinding against one another.  There's a lot of tension between the push and pull for innovation and the capacity of the political system to deliver it.' "

Zhang argues that the obstacles are in the Party, private and academic sectors:

" 'Probably the greatest challenge is to get Chinese companies to become more innovative ...Reform is needed here, especially in state-owned enterprises, where the bosses are still chosen by the Party.  It's not like shareholders who have the company's best interests at heart.' "

" 'Another problem that has worsened in the past five years is plagiarism and research misconduct.' "

" 'Again, it's the result of politics getting mixed up with science... Everyone works with the door closed, in secret.  This is very bad for innovation.' "

Information cyber-attack tactics via internet communication technology play a significant role in all three areas. If the Party, private and academic sectors are unable to conduct innovative solutions, the next logical step is to conduct yet another spying escapade via politically motivated hackers whether they are state sponsored or funded by private sectors:

On Monday, October 29, 2007, (one year and five months after the interview with Ze Zhang), Oakridge National Labs (ORNL ), the Department of Energy's largest Science and Energy laboratory, was exploited by a coordinated attack.

A database containing sensitive information of approximately 12,000 scientific researchers who visited the facility from 1990 - 2004 was penetrated while attempts were made to gain access to computer networks at numerous laboratories and other institutions across the country.

Several weeks before the actual exploit, there were approximately seven waves of 1,100 phishing e-mails delivered using a very sophisticated strategy:

Groups of ORNL employees were sent out e-mail notifications regarding an upcoming scientific conference.  Others were sent a complaint on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission.  In 11 known cases, the employees took the bait.

Each e-mail instructed the recipient to open an attachment for further information.  And when they did, it "enabled " the hackers to infiltrate the system and remove data," Thom Mason, the Director of ORNL said.

"Every year we build bigger and more sophisticated fences around our databases and every year our enemies find new and more sophisticated ways to tunnel under the fence.  This is an ongoing challenge that is going to be here as far as we can see in the future," Mason stated.

Officials at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington discovered and reported a similar exploit on the same day.

In late October the I.P. addresses related to the attacks were discovered to be owned by Chinese websites.
As science and technology advancements continue to accelerate, IW will accelerate.  The social, economic and political impacts of these advancements will continue to threaten global shifts in power.

Executives in business, government and industry must become knowledgeable enough about near-term breakthroughs in order to properly position themselves and their organizations in order to defend themselves and gain proper "triage' rights in the industry to protect them against the next "Titan Rain" or "Titan Hail" of IW.

As new advances are made, more IW advances will rapidly evolve and will exponentially increase the rate of the cyber threat model we see today whether they be state-funded, corporate, or academia-related (or all three).

The combination of NanoTechnology and BioTechnology will evolve (and has been evolving) into the next major revolution - "The Materials Age".

The economic and political implications of winning or losing the battle to be number one in this technology could cause a shift in global power.