Isn't it interesting how "the terrorists" don't simply take down the data communications infrastructure with shovels, hatchets, boltcutters, etc? This is what I noticed when I studied strategic information warfare (SIW) back in the mid 1990s; reading all this nonsense from the thinktanks, written by people who allegedly knew a thing or two about the subject:
Why aren't physical infrastructure attacks generally mentioned?
The answer is that this area of inquiry is simply unthinkable and better left alone by people with PhDs who are paid to provide authoritative answers. The physical infrastructure is A) very fragile and B) impossible to defend against focused but rudimentary attacks. End of story. Analysts usually don't even consider it. Well, not in the public discourse, anyway. What you get (in public) is all denial of service, hacking, worms, etc. Software. Virtural. Not real.
What would happen if "the terrorists" took out an OC-768 or two or ten? I'm sure this scenario has been gamed in some underground, DoD crypt, somewhere. And I'm quite sure that the generals and propeller heads running the thing had nighmares for days or weeks afterwards.
Sean Gorman didn't think his
work had implications for national security... Until the feds showed up and classified it. Of course, all the materials Gorman used were freely available, totally out in the open, to anyone with the clarity of mind of
a 12-year-old an 11-year-old child. When I wrote an
informal essay on the same subject several years ago, I intentionally left out the details I knew would bring door knocks late at night.
The bottom line is this: If anyone, or a small group of someones, decided that they really wanted to take this system down, that is, deliver a kill shot---not something to dazzle the idiots at home in their EZ chairs---it wouldn't be hard. The Birkenstock and granola crowd, however, would be the last group to strike the core, strategic assets of The Machine. They are very dependent on it for their vain existence, despite all the noise to the contrary. They love it, actually.
Look, if the hippies started thinking funny thoughts about OC-768s and root DNS nodes and gigabit class switches---by the rack full---in places like the San Francisco Bay area, New York, London and Tokyo...
Where would the fairtrade, organic hemp hacky sacks come from, man? And nevermind the hybrid vehicles with Hillary 2008 bumper stickers (neatly placed over the fading Kerry 2004 bumper stickers) to demonstrate their revolutionary cred. Would there be any vegan carrot cake available in the various metropolitan, vanity health food boutiques after the electromagnetic pulse weapons capped off inside the data centers?
No.
With hippies it's always about talking the talk and never walking the walk. On that, you can bet your life:
Last February the Department of Homeland Security oversaw a large-scale international cyber terror simulation involving 115 public and private organizations in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand [The
ECHELON member states---Cryptogon edit]
, all testing their ability to coordinate with one another and respond to computer-driven attacks. It was called Cyber Storm.
Nobody's said much about the results, or the details of the exercise scenario. But a newly-published DHS PowerPoint presentation on the exercise reveals that the real terrorist threat in cyber space isn't from obvious suspects like al Qaida types or Connecticut voters; it's from anti-globalization radicals and peace activists.
The attack scenario detailed in the presentation is a meticulously plotted parade of cyber horribles led by a "well financed" band of leftist radicals who object to U.S. imperialism, aided by sympathetic independent actors.More: NSA Risking Electrical Overload: "The Terrorists" and Sustainable FascismMore: Rat Takes Down New Zealand Telecom SystemMore: Backhoe FadeResearch Credit: West
posted by Kevin at 4:06 PM