But Mikko Hyppoenen, a Finnish expert, told the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper that it would be difficult to prove the Russian state's responsibility, and that the Kremlin could inflict much more serious cyber-damage if it chose to.
Q: There is a serious risk of a cyber-attacking damaging the national grid.
Cyber threats can damage and even destroy real-world physical targets beyond cyberspace.
Then there's the hacks and breaches which go unreported by privately held and unregulated companies who are fearful of how cyber incidents will damage their reputations -- which can have a negative impact on revenues, company valuation when raising capital, customer acquisition and retention, and their ability to recruit top talent.
Washington has said the cyber-attacks could damage China-US ties.
"Prioritising political information control over technical cyber defence also damages China's own cybersecurity," Jon Lindsay of Harvard University's Belfer centre for science and international affairs said in a recent briefing.
Most notably, the United States, along with Israel, launched a series of cyber attacks that damaged Iran's nuclear program.
But American officials say the hackers are really operatives of the Iranian government who are lashing out against American banks for U.S. sanctions against the country and a 2010 cyber attack that damaged Iran's nuclear program.
There are many examples of sensitive information being hacked by cyber intruders or damaged by viruses [ 5].
It is an ambitious program that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, calls Plan X, and the public description talks about "understanding the cyber battlespace," quantifying "battle damage" and working in Darpa's "cyberwar laboratory".
When cyber thieves strike, the damage can be extensive — and embarrassing — for both retailers and shoppers.
