The event could take the form of a denial of service attack, a network intrusion or even a physical attack on key network assets, said John Gantz, chief research officer of IDC. Gantz spoke during a teleconference in which the research company laid out its annual forecast of technology developments in the coming year.

"The war with Iraq will galvanize hackers," Gantz said.

IDC's list of 10 predictions included sunnier projections, too, however. Chief among them was the company's view that spending on information technology and telecommunications will grow by more than six percent next year, reaching $1.9 trillion. Gantz said current data on US IT spending and revenues from technology vendors worldwide are encouraging.

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