In 2010, the critical infrastructure of nuclear processing facilities at Stuxnet, Iran were assulted by a cyber attack that introduce a virus, thus affecting the nuclear centrifuges. It brought to light the vulnerability of the control systems to the cyber attack. This led the countries to revisit the protection of their critical infrastructure. In2012, there was a cyber attack on Saudi Arabia dubbed Shamoon. There was one on South Korea in 2013 called Dark Seoul.

In November, 2014, another instance of cyber attack was noticed. The victim was Sony Entertain.ment Corporation, Culver City, California. The employees confronted the images of grinning red skulls on their computer screens.The hackers called them the Guardians of Peace or GOP. They stole voluminous data, maybe up to 100 terabytes. The hard disks were wiped out. The stole data appeared on Internet. It was the private data of the employees and the Hollywood moguls and actors. Even the unreleased films were siphoned off. The data of the corporates dealing with Sony too came in the public domain.Sony was about to release a movie Interview based on the story of an assassination attempt on a North Korean leader.The premiere was cancelled as the theatres feared attack.

Cyber attacks are difficult to attribute. It can be carried out by anyone with an internet-enabled computer. One who attacks can be an individual or a group.It could be a state actor or state itself. The attackers cover their tracks by using proxy machines and false IP addresses. They plant false clues inside their malware to mislead the investigators.

Companies will have to be very very careful about their cyber security, esp. the data and personal details of their customers. The Government must put in place the legal measures and enabling policies.