In one instance, Estonian government and commercial Web sites were hit by a series of denial of service attacks over a period of weeks back in 2007 from Russian sources. The Russian government, however, denied any responsibility and refused to help find or prosecute the suspects.

In August, tensions between Georgia and Russia spilled onto the Web when Russians apparently attacked the Web site and blog of an Estonian writer, covering the problems between the two countries. The attacks denied millions of people around the world access to their Twitter and Facebook pages.

Governments around the world are preparing themselves for future cyber-attacks. NATO has set up a “Center of Excellence” for cyber-defense in Estonia. The principle of NATO’s “Center of Excellence” holds that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

Last year, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the formation of the U.S. Cyber Command. This organization, under the U.S. Strategic Command, led by a four-star general, will defend vital U.S. military networks. The UK government also has recently announced plans to create a central Office of Cyber Security to deal with the threat of online attacks.

The hostilities have been confined to cybercrime and cyber-espionage and do not amount to war, said James Lewis, director and senior fellow of the technology and public policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Be that as it may, several countries have planned systematic attacks to use in a crisis. The major players are the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Israel and China.

“I was in a meeting in Malaysia where I was told that there are a number of attacks coming from Indonesia…But Malaysia and Indonesia are not at war, so I wouldn’t call it ‘warfare;”

said James Lewis

>.”Foreign governments use cybercriminals as irregular forces,” CSIS’s Lewis pointed out. “Left to their own devices, cybercriminals are only going to attack places where they can make some money; when they attack a government, it’s usually someone else’s idea.”