Market maturation comes with ups and downs in any industry. With Government 2.0 we have now reached a point in my opinion, based on being directly involved with part of the transformation; that we are quietly seeing a mashup of Gov 2.0 with cyberwar and digital warfare.
We are in an undeclared cyberwar with multiple countries, a "cyber world war" if you will:
We are in a cyberwar every single moment of every day with multiple countries. This is an undeclared war, a digital free fire zone. It is the space of gauss, flame, stuxnet, duqu; and thousands of other variants in dozens of countries.
How does Government 2.0 play a role in cyberwar?
1. The very openness and transparency is easily exploited against each owner of data, web presences, mobile presence; and can be both quietly or loudly used.
2. More and more countries are using funds devoted to new technology transformations to quietly build cyber armies. China has deployed tens of thousands of hackers in officials positions. Many countries are using their sovereign wealth funds to buy into technology providers who can provide both cyberwar and hacking/stealing technologies.
3. There has been such huge focus on engagement and "listening" that sometimes we forget the huge number of fake accounts and purposeful misleading accounts that exist in cyber space now, let alone social media and mobile social apps.
4. More and more civic and public systems are not only being attacked, but in many cases successfully so now. With the spread of truly dangerous malware like gauss and flame, we will be seeing an increase both domestically and internationally of cyber attacks designed specifically to disable and disrupt.
5. The asymetrical aspect of cyber-warfare when compared to what the U.S. is doing on the ground in Afghanistan as I write this is huge. If in Afghanistan we are concerned with the taliban re-grouping and forming new regional (old) alliances; but we know the tactics and the general terrain. War in cyber space means we are dealing with enemies who instantly can change shape, move time, and can be in 30 places around the globe at once if they are good.
6. The politics of this are split not between party lines, but rather belief or disbelief.
The future battlefields are here upon us; although since it is an undeclared war, the media is not focused on the reality yet. Digital bullets might be replacing real bullets but when whole systems like water, electricity, or transportation go down due to hacking, cyberwar or cyber economic espionage; the effect could be the same.