Posted on 06/08/2012 9:46:07 AM PDT by SomeCallMeTim
After his eponymously-named lab discovered Flame, "the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet unleashed," Eugene Kaspersky believes that the evolving threat of cyber terrorism could spell the end of life on Earth as we know it.
Doomsday scenarios are a common occurrence in 2012, but coming from a steely-eyed realist like Eugene Kaspersky, his calls for a global effort to halt emerging cyber threats should raise alarm bells.
A global Internet blackout and crippling attacks against key infrastructure are among two possible cyber-pandemics he outlined.
"It's not cyber war, it's cyber terrorism, and I'm afraid the game is just beginning. Very soon, many countries around the world will know it beyond a shadow of a doubt, Kaspersky told reporters at a Tel Aviv University cyber security conference.
I'm afraid it will be the end of the world as we know it," he warned. "I'm scared, believe me."
(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...
I forwarded this story to a close friend of mine... a fellow who helped build much of the infra-structure of the internet... (back in the day)... he is, truly, a computer genius who is now retired, fabulously wealthy, hikes for months at a time and writes Iphone apps, for fun. His reply scared me more than the article.... I will post it in the next reply.
Scary. Okay folks what is the “be prepared” list!
Bookmark.
um... are you seriously going to leave us hanging like that?????????????????
Bump
bookmark ...
And so the various big players quietly go along exploring, cataloging, mapping, planting, testing, ... building the arsenal. So take my app. As far as we've been able to determine, there are no Chinese nationals hiking the ___ this year. Yet, with each release of the code a significant number of the downloads and freaking app updates(!) are coming from China. So I guess the thing is getting picked apart to see if it generates a vulnerability into iPhones that someday the right person in the right place (for them) might have installed so that they can take advantage of it. Now I've gone to pains to make sure there is no such exposure but WTF!?! ..
Unfortunately, at this point there is very little you can personally do other than protect yourself from the small time hackers through conventional means and to keep in mind that it's not you, personally, the big guys are after -- they are after the information and systems that you and your machines have access to. And by information I mean everything from org charts to chemical processing details to what the names and interests of your children are. And keep in mind that it's not humans directly doing this (except on rare occasions) but is robotic software just exploring, logging, cataloging, and correlating with human guides. Also keep in mind that they are particularly mapping out social and organizational relationships so that when the communication saying to do X or provide Y is received by you (or apparently sent by you) that it is believed and acted upon.
One of the primary things people misunderstand when they imagine this stuff is to put things in terms of humans trying to break into their accounts and computers when instead it is automatons with infinite patience, persistence, and cataloging capabilities.
So this is the actual world we live in today. For awhile I thought about officially entering this arena on the defense side but I decided that these positions tend to be soul sucking and generally unappreciated. The interesting work is being done by youngsters with doctorates. And so, for now, I just work hard attempting to not add to the mess by being very careful with my own development work. And, occasionally, I let out rants like this and stay clear of facebook .. ;-)
I think.. preparing for a failed power grid is probably the way to think about planning.
Oh please. First of all, humans did quite nicely before electronic technology came along.
Second, humans do not represent all life on Earth. Human civilization will be affected, surely.
That’s a world view absent of the knowledge of the historicity of a resurrected Christ, in whom ALL THINGS are under His authority.
Have noticed (as of lately) have to call the children to see if an email was actually sent from them. Have received one (recently) had to delete (did not open). Was not from one of the children.
I’m afraid it will be the end of the world as we know it,” he warned, and then added, “but I feel fine.”
Go out on your deck and read a book.
What was his reply?
I know you track this stuff, but I am here to tell you, my code is 100% bulletproof against any and all hackers.
LOL! Well, those are HIS words, not mine... I would agree that it is hyperbole, except for the qualifier.. "as we know it". Certainly, things could be made MUCH different than what we know now.
Seriously... I think the power grid is very vunerable. Just losing power, broadly, in the US would be a first rate disaster.
LOL! Well, those are HIS words, not mine... I would agree that it is hyperbole, except for the qualifier.. "as we know it". Certainly, things could be made MUCH different than what we know now.
Seriously... I think the power grid is very vunerable. Just losing power, broadly, in the US would be a first rate disaster.
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