An attack against a computer system or network is how PC Magazine defines a cyber-attack. A Cyber-attack can take many forms, for many reasons and can be executed on a small or large scale. Most cyber-attacks are criminal in nature. These cybercrimes are usually motivated by profit. Recent examples include the cyber-attacks on Visa/MasterCard and attacks on Google’s network by China. The cyber-attacks on Visa and MasterCard were part of “operation payback”, and were carried out by various loose nit groups that organized using social networking sites. “Operation payback” was retaliation against Visa and MasterCard for refusing to continue to do business with the website WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks posted leaked classified U.S. diplomatic communications on their website for the world to see. The United States felt this was a criminal act and pressured Visa and MasterCard to stop processing transactions for WikiLeaks. In response hackers launch “operation payback” which used distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to crash Visa and MasterCard Servers. Google recently exited the Chinese market. According to the New York Times, “Google linked its decision to sophisticated cyber-attacks on its computer systems that it suspected originated in China and that were aimed, at least in part, at the Gmail user accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The attacks were directed at some 34 companies or entities, most of them in Silicon Valley, California, according to people with knowledge of Google’s investigation into the matter. The attackers may have succeeded in penetrating elaborate computer security systems and obtaining crucial corporate data and software source codes.” Both of these attacks could be dismissed as everyday criminal cyber-attacks but they could be considered something much more serious. By some the attack against Visa and MasterCard maybe considered cyber terrorism and the attack against Google considered cyber warfare. The circumstances of the attack,..