Stuxnet was of such great complexity and required such significant resources to develop that few attackers will be capable of producing a similar threat in the near future. Thus, we do not expect masses of threats of similar sophistication to suddenly appear. However, the real-world dangers of Stuxnet-like threats are obvious.

The threat highlighted that attack attempts on critical infrastructure facilities are not just theoretical, but entirely possible and more are likely. We implore all organizations to implement defenses to ward off such attacks; this is more than a suggestion, it is the only responsible thing to do.

Francis deSouza is senior vice president of the Enterprise Security Group at Symantec.

in Network World's Wide Area Network section.