Cyber Attacks: Threat level to national security from greatest to least

Marcus Kempe, director of operations support for the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority: “To us, cyberterrorism is a lower-level threat.”

• Information Warfare State-sponsored use of computers in military action
• Information Counter intelligence State-sponsored use of computers to gain knowledge on a foe
• Cyberterrorism Use of computers to cause terror, death, destruction or massive economic turmoil, often by a party not affiliated with any state
• Cyber Organized Crime Use of computers by a cartel-like group for the purpose of stealing or trafficking, usually money
• Information Vendettas Use of computers, usually by an insider or sanctioned by an insider, to sabotage an organization to create public embarrassment or to gain at the expense of that organization
• Cybercrime Use of computers to steal money, credit card data or personal information for use in extortion schemes or to gain notoriety as a hacker
• Cyberhooliganism Using computers for digital vandalism and low-level destruction, such as website defacement, virus propagation or “hacktivism”?that is, using those tools to get a message across

Source: NIPC