A recently publish article in The Age, entitled: “In cyberspace they can’t hear you scream,” highlights the increased concern and heightened potential of cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure.
“What would happen if well-organised hackers - criminal syndicates, agents of hostile nation-states or terrorists - disabled the computer networks that sustain the critical infrastructure of modern societies?
For Michael Chertoff, the head of the US Department of Homeland Security, the threat is real, and likely to get worse. And he’s not shy of offering some alarming examples of how such a devastating attack could unfold.”
This article gives many telling examples of how vulnerable information and communication infrastructures are throughout the globe and gives us to the opportunity to reflect on this timely, yet somber subject.
While this article gives a fairly pessimistic perspective on how vulnerable our ICT infrastructure is, it is clear that we must move beyond the doom and gloom. In moving beyond cybergeddon we should double our efforts to promote and encourage the positive use of cyberspace to augment and enhance cooperation and collaboration. By doing so we may thwart potential cyber-attacks and counter it with constructive dialogue, cyber-diplomacy and pro-active, ameliorative Smart Mobbery
*Mark A.M. Kramer has recently joined Smart Mobs as a mobile European correspondent. Mark will be sharing insights and covering Smart mobs topics from Europe and beyond.
A recently publish article in The Age, entitled: “In cyberspace they can’t hear you scream,” highlights the increased concern and heightened potential of cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure.
“What would happen if well-organised hackers - criminal syndicates, agents of hostile nation-states or terrorists - disabled the computer networks that sustain the critical infrastructure of modern societies?
For Michael [...]
Comments
@ 16:29
interesting selection of possible agents of such an attack; what about ‘evil’ corporations, or glory/revenge-driven hackers?
@ 00:12
Good point Phil Bradley! “We” (HUGE generalization) tend to focus on external sources of “evil” and sometimes forget about the sources closets to us.
In the final analysis, our critical infrastructure is only as safe as our societies are. In other words, if we live in healthy, thriving societies which respect individual and collective rights then we are more likely to have “safe” infrastructure. In contrast, if we live in societies which are fascist, despotic, irreverent to individual and collective rights then we could (will) have problems.
We could talk about this for hours!
@ 02:55
There’s an old saying: Don’t ‘mess’ where you eat.
These networks are far more valuable intact and functioning than laying crippled under a buzzing swarm of hornets.
I’d wager that most of these groups or individuals that could be considered a threat are too hooked into critical networks themselves to brook such an action. Especially if they’re tech savvy enough to execute something like a complete network shutdown.
It doesn’t wash. All of this posturing by the DHS sounds like a besieged agency trying to justify their existence in the face of the upcoming administration change.