Thats a great point, and quite possibly how the next war would be fought. I picture some Fight Club esque scenario where all the banks get wiped out. Not from bombs, more from a cyber point of view, but could you imagine the loss of faith even a smallish attack could cause. FUD is a heavy hitter in wars.

I highly recommend the novels Daemon and Freedom by Daniel Suarez, where he shows highly plausible attacks on our digital infrastructure.

The answer to the last part is "the US is probably in the lead or at least competitive to the lead."

Keep in mind that Stuxnet is generally figured to be a joint American/Israeli cyberweapon.

The US is clearly in the lead wrt cyber weapons, but it also clearly has the most to lose. Whether the lead balances out the increased threat is anyone's guess.

The common use of SSNs, the continued existence of Credit Card numbers, and the Equifax hack make me gravely concerned that the Federal Government is not helping us harden our cyber defense.

Offensive and defensive capability.

Please don't do this here.