Homeland Security tries to shore up nation’s cyber defenses

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Screens glowed, mice clicked and lines of code scrolled on the laptop monitors of a hacker team hired by Barney Advanced Domestic Chemical Co. — or BAD Company — to break into a rival firm’s computer network.

In another room here at Idaho National Laboratory, a computer operator noticed something wrong. “They’re hitting one of our servers!” he said. The lights in the control room soon failed, and liquid gushed from a set of tanks as green and red lights flashed.

“We’ve got a spillover!” shouted the supervisor. “Call the hazmat team!”

This frantic but entirely simulated attack last week on a chemical plant demonstrated what U.S. officials and industry experts say is a little-understood national and economic security threat: the ability of malicious computer code to cripple critical systems that millions of people rely on for food, fuel, safe water and more.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/homeland-security-tries-to-shore-up-nations-cyber-defenses/2011/09/27/gIQAtQ6bDL_singlePage.html

[jwirr]

1. OR are they just looking for ways to shut us up?

[Diclotican]

2. alp227

alp227

I wonder if not Josef Stalin, Berjia and some other "great" KGB leaders are not smiling in their graves if they are able to look at the world of today. SPecially US who for many, many years was their enemies, and who they had a great ideological and pragmatical "war" with.. And who they even today, have a war with, even with less danger and less posibility that wil end in a war...

I wonder if not even Lenin, who claimed that he was given capitalism enough rope to hang itself from it, also is smiling in his mausolum at the red Square where he still lie, even tho Marxist - Lenemism is something of the past in modern Russia (in the sense that the country is verry different from what it was 20 year ago)

I wonder, what Lenin and Stalin would have said, if they was able to wake up, for little information about how things are today..


But it is a fact, that we are more inter-conected today, than we have been in houndreds of year before.. It is also a fact, that enemies can, if they want, destroy alot of information technology if they shoose so, by using the same tools, that make the world a better way for millions.. The Internet is both a tool for good things - and a tool for bad things, if one person shoose it..

And it is a fact, that enemies, with knowlegde about how to walk around computers, can, and posible wil attack infrastructur, as it is sheaper to "hit" the enemies infrastructur rather than risk a expensive war where millions can die.. And you can use this attacs, to get a lot of information also.

And we know, as a fact, that some government are using internet to wage cyber war against many nations.. Both to get information, but also to pry on open nettworks, to steal top secret information and so one.. Specially high tech industry - and the Pentagon ahve been attaced many times over, becouse they have information that others want.. That be how to make sheese doodles, to the latest nuclear secrets.. (And I can't understand why anyone wil make sheese doodles in the first place, but thats me I guess)..

This is something that is important, but also difficult to defend against. If a nation use rockets, you can more or less follow the path, back to where it started.. Not so easy when you are attacet by internet.. Mostly becouse clewer cyber attacers can use houndres of "bot" computers, to attac servers of interest simultatius, and be sure that they got the information, but are in no danger of been the one sitting with the troubles after...

Diclotican

Diclotican

[DissedByBush]

3. The best they could do immediately is training

Most vulnerabilities are admins who aren't up to snuff.

[zogofzorkon]

4. Bad Company in electricland

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfFInc7mzNM&feature=colike>

[FreeBillClinton]

5. Our nation's weak IT security presents an opportunity to train and employ people.

Will we take it?

Probably not, It's easier to make a show of arresting 15 year old members of Anonymous.

[bemildred]

6. Prophylaxsis is much more to the point that this sort of reactive exercise.

There is not much that you can DO when under "cyber-attack" which is not better done before you connect up with the Internet.

[formercia]

7. Putting your control systems on an unsecured Internet connetion.

There's a simple solution to that problem.