The shame file: five evil uses of IT

Said to be the world's largest instance of state-sponsored cyber warfare, "Titan Rain" was a series of attacks on US Government agency networks.

Titan Rain prompts fears of cyberwar

They began in 2003, and targeted the networks of NASA, the departments of state, energy, homeland security, and defence. The World Bank was also targeted.

Through trojans, spyware, viruses and zombie computers, Titan Rain hackers accessed sensitive information such as specifications for the US Army's helicopter mission-planning systems and flight-planning software for the Army and Air Force.

Because they were traced back to China's Guangdong Province, some suspected the China's involvement. But it is also likely that systems in that country were relay points for attacks from elsewhere.

Although details and the FBI investigation are scarce, the media storm surrounding Titan Rain makes it a turning point for the public perception of cyber warfare.

The US has improved its cybersecurity measures. But China continues to be blamed for new attacks on its networks, including those on the Pentagon in 2007 and an infiltration of US electric grid systems earlier this year.

And according to security expert Bruce Schneier, recent wave of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on US and South Korean websites suggests that cybercrime is far from defeated.

"Are we doing better? The attacks on South Korea say not really," Schneier says.

"Titan Rain was just the one that happened to make the news," he says. "It does seem like something was big and organised, but I'm sure there are others that could be bigger and don't make the paper."

Read on for two more "evil uses of IT"...