I heard on the radio this morning that cyber attack is now a more serious and dangerous threat than terrorism, since it could take down the power grid, the water supply, a nuclear power plant, and who knows what other basic infrastructure necessities.
The report also said the threat is being hyped, in an effort to get attention elevated.
Be that as it may, my question is this. Why are the computer controls for all these things connected to the internet? My thinking is: no internet access, no portal for a cyber attack.
Am I wrong? Naive? Missing something obvious?
Why aren’t critical systems isolated? Simply not having them cyber-connected should make them impervious to cyber attack.
Lots of money to be made keeping the US’ people in an uproar!
Yes, there are easy solutions, point defenses, which are cheap and low profile. Not a huge amount of money and not much infringing on civil liberties!
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” – H.L. Mencken
Then there are the $1 B for 14 missiles (ground based interseptors in AK and Ca 44 from 30) that never their passed tests, to show Japan and S Korea the US is willing to bankrupt the New Deal to thwart hobgoblins that threaten them.
here’s a Change.org. petition via Yves Smith i just signed, for whatever it’s worth: Google: Keep Google Reader Running i use my google reader, including it’s site search, 3 hours a day or more for what im doing, in ways that would be hard to replace…
Jazz, from what i’ve read, our infrastructure is vunerable to not just a cyber attack, but also to a solar storm like the carrington event which fried the 19th century telegraph wires, and to an EMP which could be generated by just one small nuke detonated in the atmosphere in the middle of the country…
dont know if it was lack of foresight or what, but everything runs off a cyber system these days; trucks & trains dont move without the electronic schedulers…
a good source for more details is physicist/blogger stuart staniford at early warn, especially his links; a former oil analyst with the oil drum, he works in the cyber security business, often cites papers…
I heard on the radio this morning that cyber attack is now a more serious and dangerous threat than terrorism, since it could take down the power grid, the water supply, a nuclear power plant, and who knows what other basic infrastructure necessities.
The report also said the threat is being hyped, in an effort to get attention elevated.
Be that as it may, my question is this. Why are the computer controls for all these things connected to the internet? My thinking is: no internet access, no portal for a cyber attack.
Am I wrong? Naive? Missing something obvious?
Why aren’t critical systems isolated? Simply not having them cyber-connected should make them impervious to cyber attack.
Somebody help me out here.
Cheers!
JzB
JzB,
Lots of money to be made keeping the US’ people in an uproar!
Yes, there are easy solutions, point defenses, which are cheap and low profile. Not a huge amount of money and not much infringing on civil liberties!
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” – H.L. Mencken
Then there are the $1 B for 14 missiles (ground based interseptors in AK and Ca 44 from 30) that never their passed tests, to show Japan and S Korea the US is willing to bankrupt the New Deal to thwart hobgoblins that threaten them.
< http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/world/asia/us-to-bolster-missile-defense-against-north-korea.html?emc=na&_r=0 >
Faux News was running the 14 missiles thing non stop at noon.
imagine you all know google plans to shut down the google reader; as Felix Salmon put it:
Your Daily Outrage: Google decides it’s cool to be evil, kills beloved product because it can
here’s a Change.org. petition via Yves Smith i just signed, for whatever it’s worth:
Google: Keep Google Reader Running
i use my google reader, including it’s site search, 3 hours a day or more for what im doing, in ways that would be hard to replace…
Jazz, from what i’ve read, our infrastructure is vunerable to not just a cyber attack, but also to a solar storm like the carrington event which fried the 19th century telegraph wires, and to an EMP which could be generated by just one small nuke detonated in the atmosphere in the middle of the country…
dont know if it was lack of foresight or what, but everything runs off a cyber system these days; trucks & trains dont move without the electronic schedulers…
a good source for more details is physicist/blogger stuart staniford at early warn, especially his links; a former oil analyst with the oil drum, he works in the cyber security business, often cites papers…
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