Cyber crooks have positioned themselves to capitalize on the recent events in a burgeoning variety of electronic attacks.

FORBES: Cyber Crooks See Huge Opportunity In Japan's Tragedy

The speed with which electronic attacks could be launched gives little time for cool-headed reflection and favours early, even pre-emptive, attack.

ECONOMIST: The threat from the internet

The county council says vandals have damaged three electronic road safety signs in separate attacks.

BBC: Anglesey manhole cover theft and sign vandalism warning

The Syrian Electronic Army claims to have been behind similar attacks on the twitter feeds of Agence France Presse news agency, Sky News Arabia, al-Jazeera mobile and CBS News.

BBC: AP Twitter account hacked in fake 'White House blasts' post

With the growth in concern about cyber attacks, these relationships began to extend into the electronic arena, and the only U.S. agency equipped to manage electronic assessments of critical-infrastructure vulnerabilities is the NSA, government and industry officials said.

WSJ: U.S. Program to Detect Cyber Attacks on Infrastructure

Military satellites and other electronic devices using carbon nanotube semiconductors will be able to withstand solar flare-ups and nuclear radiation from attacks that often corrupt data in standard chips.

FORBES: Nanotech Takes On Homeland Terror