Udet, took me a while to get back to you on your post. Been kicking it around, trying to figure out the details. There is very little good information on what a high tech, info war would be like. A large one hasn't been fought, the only one that has occured is the Gulf War of 2003. In that, there were some interesting operations/trends. I am not an expert in any way, shape or form on this stuff so what I say must be taken with a grain of salt. Doubtless there are others who know more (probably on this board) and they'll weight in.
Blue Force Tracker is a good representative of computer enhancement of the battlefield. This is a computer program/lan/operational system that keeps track of all your assets on a battlefield (Blue), the enemy (Red) and unknown (I think green or grey). It produces a common battlefield picture in real time that all units engaged in the operation can use. Takes inputs from assets (Land, Air, Sea, Sattelite, ect) and feeds them into a screen readout like a video game.
It seems to work pretty well. During the Gulf War it was very helpful in reducing the number of Blue on Blue engagements (also known as friendly fire).
Another operation that is big in informational warfare is getting inside the enemies decision process. This is done by disrupting, denying or falsifying their communications from as many sources as possible. In some cases, it means jamming communications. In others, it means allowing information through, still, in others it means sending false messages or delaying the message a couple of hours so when it gets there it is already well out of date. This seems to have been very effective in the Gulf War. So much so that the Iraqis were down to the level of climbing telephone poles to take a look around and see what was happening.
Also, the method and types of worms/viruses has changed. There are still DOS (denial of service) attacks, aggressive takeovers of computers, zombie attacks, ect. They will always be there as they are more of the shock effect. If you want to shut down an electronic grid or civilian infrastructure, that is the way it will be done. Same with a military grid, although they are typically much harder to break into. But a more recent development in the computer attack scenario involves not so much taking over the computer but introducing a program into the system that degrades the data. Only by a little bit. It is a quiet, in the backround kind of thing that will disrupt the targeting systems for high tech weaponry. A GPS guided bomb that misses the target by 100 yards or so. Very suttle but very effective.
That is some of the little I know or have heard about info war. There is other stuff but it is in dribs and drabs. Definitely quiet stuff. Much like the Blitzkrieg was in the 30s, there have been testing grounds (like Spain was to the Blitzkrieg) but all the associated parts have not come together in one large operation. But is definitely part of the process now.
As for which society would be at greater risk to a info war attack, it is an interesting question that produces more questions than answers. On a country like the US, you have a lot more systems that are run using computers and networks than in most other countries. That makes them more vunerable to attack. But you also have a populace that is more tech savy, and, as a consequence, knows methods (and generally has experience) with responding to the attack. Most of us have been hacked, wormed or had a virus. We know how to respond. Secondly, the support needed to fix those attacks and bugs lies in the US. The defenses are homegrown. That being said (and somebody else alluded to it in a earlier post), the ability to create havoc using an asymetric threat on the information infrastructure is far greater in the US due to our dependence on computer based systems.
On the other hand...the Chinese have a less specialized and less computer based system. These is changing fast but they still have a ways to go. But much like the Wermacht in WW2, not as many Chinese will have experience with computers as you would find in the US. In WW2, almost every American kid had a driver's liscense and knew how to get a car going. Whereas in Germany, the frequency of that type of skill was much lower. I think the same is probably true with China at present.
Long and short, info war will hurt the US faster and cost more, but the recovery will be faster as well. It will do less damage in China but the damage will be longer lasting and more difficult to fix. Again, this is an IMHO call, all things being equal in the attack (which they won't be). But ya' gotta start somewhere.