Cyber terrorism likely to escalate when current leaders die

Although restrained cyberattacks continue to happen on a regular basis, the real threat for the U.S. government may come in about five years, according to an interview with Jeffrey Carr, author of "Inside Cyber Warfare: Mapping the Cyber Underworld" and a principal at GreyLogic, on the Federal News Radio site.

This impending wave of cyberattacks, is because most terrorist leaders are older and prefer to see their work manifest in material destruction and devastation rather than over the Internet,  Carr said. But that will not always be the case, he said.

"Five years, maybe seven or eight years from now, I think we'll definitely see the cyber terror aspect of this increasing, as more Internet-savvy terrorists assume leadership positions, and the old leadership dies off," Carr said. "You have a little bit of time not to have to worry about irrational, terrorism-driven attacks. You don't have the time to sit back and allow the attacks that we're currently experiencing, which are under the radar -- very subtle. They have to do with stealing intellectual property."

Carr urged government to deal with cyber terrorism now, while there is still time.