A Washington-based non-profit group will host in the coming week of February 15-21, 2010, a scripted planned simulation of a cyber-attack on US Government services. The simulated attack will take place on Tuesday, February 16th, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington.

The event, named Cyber ShockWave, is organized by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) (non-profit organization) with the aid of a production company to help ensure the most realistic environment for all participants. BPC organized other simulations in the past, the most well-known being Oil Shockwave back in 2007, an oil-crisis simulation.

This event aims to see how various Government services and officials in key positions will react in the case of a real cyber-attack. Participants will play roles of important officials in the US Government.

To achieve results as realistic as possible, important politicians have been invited to attend either as players or as analysts. To be able to simulate real-life cyber threats as much as possible, the attack was developed by former General Director of the CIA Michael Hayden with help from former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton, both members of the 9/11 security commission.

Former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, former White House Homeland Security Advisor Fran Townsend and former White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart will participate at the event as players. They are expected to take split-second decisions and advise the President as to the recent events, simulating a real White House war room.

Companies participating in the simulation include eBay's Paypal department, General Dynamics and the Georgetown University. The attack is planned to affect every part of a modern-day life, from simple cell phones to sophisticated rocket-launching software.

Similar simulations took place in the past, with disastrous results for the US, but media attention will be at an all-time high because of the recent (supposed) China-based attacks on US companies, and on Google especially.

More information and results from the simulation will be published on the event's website.