As the uprising against Syria's incumbent government marches on, combatants on both sides are turning to cyberwarfare. Reuters reports that hackers sympathetic to both sides of the conflict have left seeds of disinformation across the web in apparent attempts to delude the opposition. Earlier this week, hackers allegedly posted a series of falsified reports on the news organization's site, claiming that the Syrian military had suffered setbacks. As recently as Sunday the @ReutersTech Twitter account was temporarily suspended as errant tweets decried the rebel army's dwindling hopes. The problems aren't limited to Reuters — the pro-government "Syrian Electronic Army" claimed responsibility for a number of cyber attacks, including the defacement of Harvard University's website last year. And we mustn't forget Anonymous' interception of 2.4 million emails back in February.

While the hoaxes disseminated through these attacks might be alarming, security professionals have remarked that the ultimate effect is rather limited. "They are not that technically sophisticated" quipped one researcher, citing that the attacks are quickly noticed and corrected before much harm is done. While not quite up to the level of subterfuge we saw with the Flame and Stuxnet cyberweapons, the increased reliance on electronic means of warfare is certainly cause for concern.