Are We Engaged in a Cyberwar?:

Not yet but they have done the reconnaissance, they have done the planning, they have built the tools to let them disrupt things like critical infrastructure.

America is under virtual attacks, with key government, military and private-sector information systems being assaulted from abroad. But none of that means we're experiencing a cyberwar. That's the reckoning of James Lewis, senior fellow at the…Center for International and Strategic Studies.

What would cyberwarfare entail? Some experts suggest that cyberwar - like kinetic war - must cause significant damage and disruption to critical physical infrastructures and human casualties, including deaths. "We have not seen this type of kinetic attack. That does not mean that it won't happen if we get into a conflict with an advanced opponent," Lewis said. "They have done the reconnaissance, they have done the planning, they have built the tools to let them disrupt things like critical infrastructure.

This will be part of warfare in the future. But we're in the stages before cyberwarfare. We are in the stages of people…trying to figure out what are the rules, what are the thresholds, what's the other guy up to." Conventional war has rules, and Congress should address the legal structure of cyberwarfare. [Date: 1 February 2010; Source: