(PTI): The cyberspace could serve as the main battleground for future wars, says the United Nations’ secretary-general of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Hamadoun Toure said during the ITU’s Telecom World 2009 fair in Geneva on Tuesday that in cyberspace wars, ideas such as a superpower are going to diminish.

“The next world war could happen in cyberspace and that would be a catastrophe. We have to make sure that all countries understand that in that war, there is no such thing as a superpower,” Toure said, according to AFP.

“Loss of vital networks would quickly cripple any nation, and none is immune to a cyber-attack,” he emphasized.

The comments by the ITU’s head came as experts at the high-tech gathering demanded for due measures to curtail and stop threats posed by cyberspace.

Some experts cite the growing Internet dependency as well as the presence of computers in daily lives, as the main causes for cyber-threats.

Others blame the vulnerability to cyber-attacks on the current software and web infrastructure.

“The real problem is that we’re putting on the market software that is as vulnerable as it was 20 years ago,” said Cristine Hoepers, general manager at Brazilian National Computer Emergency Response Team.

Several countries have now joined hands in the International Multilateral Partnership against Cyber Threats (IMPACT), established this year to “proactively track and defend against cyber-threats.”

The United States has hired 1,000 cyber-security experts to ward off cyber-threats.

Also, in South Korea plans are underway to train 3,000 “cyber-sheriffs” by next year, to safeguard their networks.