The NSA claims China has the ability, along with several other possible sources, to take down the US power grid via malware they have ostensibly loaded onto US systems. (CNN: The U.S. government thinks China could take down the power grid)
It may even be true that China can do this but the part that's distortion is whether China has any intention to do it. There's no logical reason for such an act as it would hugely inconvenience their biggest customer base and any emergency / military systems would, in most cases, switch instantly to backup power generators.
The problem isn't whether China can do it but rather why the US has permitted such lackadaisical management of mission-critical systems and why there is no significant effort to standardize security, particularly to eliminate anything that has the slightest smell of Microsoft.
In a similar situation, a Russian Web site today posted links to thousands of so-called 'private' webcams. This was called a malicious hack but in fact it was a public service as it shows again in a different arena the lackadaisical approach to system security that has been taken with systems which are critical but for different reasons (e.g. personal privacy, etc). (CNN: Webcam security: What you must do. Now)
Note: that title is a hoax as it was originally published earlier today with something of the nature of 'Russian hackers compromise thousands of webcams.' Apparently mid-day they decided to shift from purple to patronizing and stupid.
The Webcam security is something the system installers / operators should have completed when the systems were implemented. Now they want to blame their incompetence on Russian 'hackers.'
In the case of the webcams, most or all were hacked because whomever installed the system didn't bother to change the default password on the equipment. Keep in mind it's a paid professional doing this work and failing to do the simplest part of it. If ol' Dad skipped the paid professional and did it himself then he's one sorry excuse for a parent when he exposes his own baby to a major security problem through his laxity (i.e. failing to read the manual to do it properly).
If these lightweight systems programmers did their jobs correctly, there would be nothing for the NSA to do except chase porno movies which is probably what they like doing best anyway.
It may even be true that China can do this but the part that's distortion is whether China has any intention to do it. There's no logical reason for such an act as it would hugely inconvenience their biggest customer base and any emergency / military systems would, in most cases, switch instantly to backup power generators.
The problem isn't whether China can do it but rather why the US has permitted such lackadaisical management of mission-critical systems and why there is no significant effort to standardize security, particularly to eliminate anything that has the slightest smell of Microsoft.
In a similar situation, a Russian Web site today posted links to thousands of so-called 'private' webcams. This was called a malicious hack but in fact it was a public service as it shows again in a different arena the lackadaisical approach to system security that has been taken with systems which are critical but for different reasons (e.g. personal privacy, etc). (CNN: Webcam security: What you must do. Now)
Note: that title is a hoax as it was originally published earlier today with something of the nature of 'Russian hackers compromise thousands of webcams.' Apparently mid-day they decided to shift from purple to patronizing and stupid.
The Webcam security is something the system installers / operators should have completed when the systems were implemented. Now they want to blame their incompetence on Russian 'hackers.'
In the case of the webcams, most or all were hacked because whomever installed the system didn't bother to change the default password on the equipment. Keep in mind it's a paid professional doing this work and failing to do the simplest part of it. If ol' Dad skipped the paid professional and did it himself then he's one sorry excuse for a parent when he exposes his own baby to a major security problem through his laxity (i.e. failing to read the manual to do it properly).
If these lightweight systems programmers did their jobs correctly, there would be nothing for the NSA to do except chase porno movies which is probably what they like doing best anyway.
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