Defence chiefs in Washington have worked out that the best way to give more tax-payer money to their chums in the contracting industry is to whip up fear about a potential cyber attack. The US is a bit short of communists and witches these days.  Even the only terrorists they can find are being incited by security forces to make daft attacks, so cyber attack is the best thing they can go for.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers predicted the United States soon will be hit by a major attack on its digital infrastructure. The Michigan Republican said during a forum in Washington that something pretty bad is coming. We assume he just does not mean another episode of Jersey Shore. The comment is not actually based on anything tangible and there is no indication what the US could do even if such an attack really was coming. US officials, politicians and experts have for several years warned that an attack on America's electronic networks could do it significant economic and national security harm by hitting the banking system or allowing foes to steal military and intelligence data.

James Clapper, director of national intelligence, claimed that cyber security, terrorism and nukes were the immediate forefront of our security concerns. "In the last year, we observed increased breadth and sophistication of computer network operations by both state and non-state actors," Clapper told a Senate panel.

But the US's biggest problems is that most of its worst cyber attacks were caused by basic security loopholes in defence contractor's systems. Even Lulzsec, which hardly can boost significant cyber resources, managed to get its way into some significant defence networks.