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Threat Vector

Basil

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I was thinking back on a book I recently read, Threat Vector (Tom Clancey) which was all about China engaged in some very high-level cyber warfare against the west. (Good page turner). Just a short while ago I heard the Facebook is down worldwide. No word yet that I've found as to what happened.
 
Cyber warfare is going to be the thing into the future. No need to have millions mobilized, property of your own destroyed and so on like conventional. That's one of the reasons I still pay with paper bills, tell online shopping to not keep personal and financial data, have a generated greeting rather than personal on my phone and generally have a small online presence. Not 100% foolproof, but I'll take the increased work to do things over convenience every day to protect myself.
 
Last week AT&T, and a couple of other cell providers were down for several hours. Now this. Watch Leave The World Behind on Netflix if you want something to think about.
 
According to AT&T, they didn't need outside interference to be down. They say it was failed system software updates, not done correctly and off schedule. As a tech guy for big business, seems if true, they didn't follow proper procedures.
 
We're so enmeshed in the 'net, just wait 'til it stops functioning.

Or as Twilight Zone warned back in 1964, when we "lose control" of what we depend on .... things go downhill fast

 
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Cyber warfare is going to be the thing into the future.
and very much now.

Red Sea Data cables cut


and just about any election these days

never mind the hacking of various websites businesses and communities

Hamilton Ontario - Feb 25 cybersecurity breach

 
Cyber warfare is going to be the thing into the future. No need to have millions mobilized, property of your own destroyed and so on like conventional. That's one of the reasons I still pay with paper bills, tell online shopping to not keep personal and financial data, have a generated greeting rather than personal on my phone and generally have a small online presence. Not 100% foolproof, but I'll take the increased work to do things over convenience every day to protect myself.

And young people don't realize how much information they're putting out there,
and they're used to doing everything with their phones.
I try to pay cash for most things,including gas.It's also "real",in that I don't get a
"surprise" when my credit car bill shows up.
 
I do cash for most local purchases too. I think it makes it much easier to be aware of how much I may be spending week to week. I've wonder how many out there who pay with an app and a swipe of the phone get surprised at the when they see just how much they spent since there's nothing really to trigger the brain into saying "Gee I started out with this amount and now I'm down to 10%, what did I really buy".
 
I do cash for most local purchases too. I think it makes it much easier to be aware of how much I may be spending week to week. I've wonder how many out there who pay with an app and a swipe of the phone get surprised at the when they see just how much they spent since there's nothing really to trigger the brain into saying "Gee I started out with this amount and now I'm down to 10%, what did I really buy".

The same thing happened when we went from cash and checks, to credit cards back in the 1950s. You don't "feel" that you've spent something, if you pay with plastic. Now applies to paying "with a swipe of an app".

yeesh
 
And young people don't realize how much information they're putting out there,
and they're used to doing everything with their phones.
True but it's old people who are getting scammed out of their life's savings. (beware fellow aged car buffs!)
 
I read a story that said that statistically it seems that scams are changing to increasingly target the younger folks due to their use and dependence on technology. Not to say older folks aren't being scammed, but with so much personal and financial data on the net and poorly secured devices it can be easier to con youngsters out of money. I also think many are not taught to approach unsolicited offers/demands with a dose of skepticism and questioning. I don't accept anything I get or see at face value if it sounds a little off, even if from someone I know. Maybe that's 40+ years of computer tech support in me, but better safe than sorry.
 
I read a story that said that statistically it seems that scams are changing to increasingly target the younger folks due to their use and dependence on technology. Not to say older folks aren't being scammed, but with so much personal and financial data on the net and poorly secured devices it can be easier to con youngsters out of money. I also think many are not taught to approach unsolicited offers/demands with a dose of skepticism and questioning. I don't accept anything I get or see at face value if it sounds a little off, even if from someone I know. Maybe that's 40+ years of computer tech support in me, but better safe than sorry.
I supect that is true - got this in my inbox this week


OTOH Last week was an article of a guy here in Ontario who lost $600 to a scam. Young people maybe more targeted but mostly they don't have any money.
 
hmmm - wasn't Basil's original post about Clancey's "Threat Vector"? The coming crash of all the digital systems?

I'd bet we could write reams about the overuse of payment platforms ...
 
Iโ€™m a firm believer that we need a defense force in cyber - alongside the traditional Army, Navy, etc. A bunch of dweeby nerds (like myself ๐Ÿ˜€) wonโ€™t be as glamorous as a trim soldier in uniform, but becoming increasingly important.
 
Mike - agree with you there. The current military cyberforce is probably overloaded already.


But organizing a similar non-military operation would be next to impossible - unless given almost limitless surveillance of communications. Recent reports of hacking even small bits of the 'net shows how useful - and potentially lethal - a non-military cyber surveillance system could be.

As we used to say in network management: Eventually the system will be so secure, you won't be able to use it at all.
 
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