Former FBI cyber cop worries about a digital 9/11

LAS VEGAS (CNNMoney) -- In April, an obscure U.S. government agency slipped a hair-raising disclosure into its monthly newsletter: Hackers had successfully penetrated the networks of several natural gas pipeline operators.
Here was a rare public acknowledgement that hackers are currently laying the foundation for a critical-infrastructure attack -- the nightmare scenario that keeps cybersecurity pros up at night.
The natural gas attackers got in through "convincingly crafted" emails that appeared to be internal and went to a "tightly focused" list of targets, according a Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity team. The campaign lasted three months before it was discovered.
In his opening keynote Wednesday at Black Hat -- one of the largest annual gatherings of security researchers -- Shawn Henry, the FBI's longtime top cybercrime official, cited the natural gas intrusion as an example of the escalating stakes of cybersecurity.
"The adversary knows that if you want to harm civilized society -- take their water away, do away with their electricity," Henry said. "There are terrorist groups that are online now calling for the use of cyber as a weapon."
The attacks that the public finds out about are "the tip of the iceberg," said Henry, who recently retired after a 24-year career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "I've seen below that waterline. I've been circling below it for the last five years."
What he's seen there is a growing army of patient, sophisticated hackers who are siphoning off some of America's key military and commercial intellectual property. Awareness is increasing, but companies are still in denial about the scale of the problem, he thinks.
The nightmare scenarios get the headlines, but cybercrime is a growing problem for businesses and consumers.