Living in a world that is virtually connected is convenient and has become an integral part of society. For those earning a cyber crime degree or online cyber crime degree will have an increasingly important role in national security.

Experts are saying cyber crime is bigger than al-Qaida and can cause immense devastation as everything is connected through the internet. According to PC World, the United States isn’t prepared for an attack that could potentially damage the country’s infrastructure.

Threats such as the Flame virus in the Middle East that was used to target Iran and Stuxnet have the ability to circle back and affect computers that were not a part of the target.

"It's something to take very seriously. It's not that hard to undermine our economy and cause lasting effects,” said Marc Zwillinger, of the Washington, D.C., law firm ZwillGen and a specialist in cyber conflict. “How long was the Facebook trading glitch that is being blamed for a lot of uncertainty and panic in the trading of one stock?"

A recent article adapted from “Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power,” a book written on a planned cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear program, stated the United States recently admitted to developing cyberweapons, but never stated the attacks were drawn out.

Anonymous members of President Barack Obama’s staff claim an ordered attack pushed back Iran’s nuclear intelligence by 18 months to two years. Experts believe the leak of information has harmed the United States’ reputation forever. Zwillinger stated that cyber experts overseas have been able to attack servers in the United States. However, nations may be hesitate because of the strength of the U.S. military.