Monday, June 14, 2010
Cyber Wars
Watch CBS News Videos Online
This story on 60 Minutes of CBS was an eye-opener on how cyber attacks could plunge major cities like New York, Los Angles and others into complete darkness. It already happened in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
This story talks about ordinary power plants being electronically attacked. However, consider the same for nuclear power plants, which is not mentioned on the CBC story, and if they can be burned down through electronic interference – viruses, etc. It could be catastrophic. That is why I am not a great believer in nuclear power plants as they are promoted as being a clean source of energy but potentially are very dangerous.
I will think that such an attack, sitting thousands of miles away in front of one' computer, on nuclear power plants could be catastrophic and potentially more deadly than 9/11. Technology brought a lot of luxuries of life and brought quite an economic boom but it could turn into a calamitous bust in a short time through such cyber attacks.
If proper care is not taken and effective deterrents are not used such cyber attacks can possibly cause cataclysmic results that world has not seen before. Recommend this post
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Oh god, the boomers are starting to lose it.
ReplyDeleteExplain???????
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to spend some time several years ago with one of the top dogs in computer/internet security in Canada.
ReplyDeleteAt that time, most computer viruses were being created in the Middle East/South Asia region and were being deployed to attack other nations' air defence systems.
Even back then there was talk about "logic bombs," malicious software that would lie dormant for years until launched to completely wipe out a target nation's financial records. Not extortion as mentioned in the 60 Minutes item but total and permanent erasure. No ATMs, no banks, no trade, zip, zilch, nada. It's like turning off a light switch on an entire nation.
MoS, thank you. You’re quite right.
ReplyDeleteI have been using Internet since it became available in 1993 to public ( or when Al Gore inventend it :)]and I admire these advancements and I am all for the technology. It has further brought the world together. However there are some inherent dangers that society must be aware of and guard against.
Our aviation system, power plants, power grids, banking system etc all depend on computers. If some miscreants manage to intrude and intercept they can cause absolute havoc. It has happened in Rio Janeiro, Brazil, and city was plunged into complete darkness. Millions of dollars have disappeared from banks as CBS story indicates. Banks did not want to make it public, as it would further destroy their business. The purpose of CBS story and my post was to point out the pitfalls and everything should be done to avoid them.
I'm really not sure what you are trying to say. You don't seem to be talking about the nature of computers, merely that we depend on them. As such your arguments could easily be transplanted to the late 18th century. "OMG, do you all realize how dependent we have all become on belts? Belts transfer the power that moves the world! If some ne'er-do-well tampered with our belt supply, perhaps with some slow-acting acid solution, LIFE AS WE KNOW IT could come to a literally crashing halt!"
ReplyDeleteYou mention that computers run (eg) Bruce. You mention that computers can be on the Internet. Then you tell us that it would be really bad for the computers that run Bruce to be on the Internet. But all you have to point to is a *lack* of evidence that this is the case. If you had recently heard that Bruce had turned all their operators into telecommuters connecting via a VPN, that'd be a major scoop.
Perhaps it all makes sense to someone who watched 60 Minutes.
Lucky for us all (?), Canada uses almost exclusively 60-70 year old designs for reactors, which do not even require a computer to operate.
Don't get me wrong, I'm against nukes, but for the same reason I'm against babies. But we keep having the babies, and I'd rather have nukes than anything else. Even hydro represents a massive disruption to the environment, many many times as great per watt.
Geekwad, you sound like George W. Bush and BP. Bush was informed about the risks of 9/11 and he just shook his head and did nothing. You know the rest. BP, now turns out, was repeatedly warned, about the precarious nature of its now blown out rig, by its engineers and management said, "It is done, It is ok, don't worry about it". And you know the rest.
ReplyDeleteI am all for computers if you read my response to MoS. However if you watch the CBS video then you would know what I am talking about. Don't be just a Geek pay attention.
Geekwad, and don't call people baby-boomers unless you know for sure. You know what they say about the people who assume....
ReplyDelete