I started complaining about this four years ago. And, since the last time I wrote about this was a year ago, it’s time to bring you up to speed. And, have you join me in asking our elected officials, WHAT IS GOING ON?
Cyberwarfare is being perpetrated against our infrastructure, our corporations, even our hospitals. But, despite the Obama Administration’s verbal response, we have done virtually nothing to harden our electric grid, our water and waste water systems, our manufacturing facilities, our hospital information systems, the medical devices that treat us… OK. You get it. We’ve done nothing.
Oh, sure, we now have Hamid Firoozi on our most wanted list. But, since he is not living in America, the odds of prosecuting him are zip. Or, the other 6 Iranian hackers involved in this newest piece of work. (By the way, they’ve already hacked into world banks.)
What did they do? They hacked into the Bowman Avenue Dam. Thankfully, it’s a pitifully small system (a reinforced concrete gravity dam that was originally constructed to provide ice to nearby consumers) that protects Rye (NY) and its environs from water flooding. Oh, wait, not if it’s hacked.
How did this get hacked? By dorking! And, no, I am not resorting to name calling, using a term that was normally employed for me and my friends. (Long before there were nerds, there were dorks.) But, to be honest, we were clearly nerds and not dorks- since nerds are pretty smart folks who lack social skills. Dorks lack both social and mental skills. But, I digress.
Nowadays, dorking means we effect an advanced Google search. One not aimed to find that new product or article, but to discover security holes in online computer systems. It dates back to around the 9-11 attacks, when Johnny Long demonstrated that a Google search could reveal the open holes, the entry points in online systems. And, Johnny was not really referring to the search itself but to the morons that let such searches work. (Yes, America, we are a country of dorks!)
We’ve already seen that our enemies- or our juvenile delinquents- can hack into our water systems. And, as Pacific Electric and Gas has found, our electric grids are easy targets, too. It seems the only entity in America that is attempting to harden itself against cyberwarfare is our military.
We’ve alrso seen that several hospital systems have been hit- thankfully not to kill any of our citizenry, but for monetary purposes. These criminals send viri and malware in eMail that hospital clerks simply click on- and enable the entire hospital system to become locked up due to their stupidity. This ransomware “vendor” simply wants $ 20K, $ 30K, or $40K to release the systems. And, since it would cost 3,4, or maybe 100X that amount to fix the system, the hospitals pay the bribe.
That seems to have been the scenario at Kentucky Methodist, Chino Valley Medical, and Desert Valley (CA)- with the new addition of Medstar Health here in DC this past week. And, by paying the hijackers in bitcoins, they make the next attack just that much more likely.
I’ll have more on this sorry situation tomorrow.
It’s really scary how easy hacking has become. On a smaller scale, I have had my Yahoo account hacked twice. It’s so invasive and frightening that ANYONE can do it!
Yahoo, Marcia, is a well known target. Mostly because it is less careful with its security.
And, as you say, there are many, many others.
It’s enough to give women- and men- pause….
(Come on, there had to be at least one twist…)
I like https://t.co/gCIZhwjTEB
Under Fire https://t.co/gCIZhwjTEB via @RAAckerman
On the one hand, posts like this are interesting and informative. They ought to make people sit up, pay attention, demand something more be done, and be willing to allocate more funds to do it.
Unfortunately, I suspect all they really accomplish is further advertising our vulnerabilities and giving bad actors more ideas they weren’t clever enough to come up with on their own.
Holly Jahangiri recently posted..Facebook Presence Needed for Authors?
If I thought for one second that NOT reporting these facts would make us safer, they’d never appear, Holly.
I am not providing the modalities for attack. (Like the person who revealed how one could hack a flying airplane did.)
But, i am hoping to goad others to join me in this crusade to get our governments and corporations to fix the problem.
I think that this is going to be an ever growing concern going forward!
Nick:
Yes, it will be.
It’s akin (in the fact that many of these folks perform the actions) to stealing the music developed by the creative types in this world.
Our country Under Cyber- Fire | https://t.co/q0U9YLKX28 via @Adjuvancy
I want to go back to a simple life where phones were attached to cords, people could leave the back door unlocked when they were in the front of the house, we needed mailmen for more than weekly flyers from stores we don’t even shop and a night at the movies cost less than $5.00 including popcorn and a soda…..instead I live in fear that my computer and/or smart phone will be hacked, I will be hijacked as I drive across the country, someone will break into the house if we are gone for more than a day or two…………and it continues to get worse. Can’t wait to read your post tomorrow….
So, is that “stop the world I want to get off”, Chef William?
by the time we finish the fourth piece in the series, we’ll both be thinking that the zombie movies are tame considering what we are facing.
What is wrong with the world and the people that do such terrible things? Will it ever stop and get back to how it use to be? Unfortunately, I don’t think it will in my lifetime.
Martha:
Some do it for “fun”. But, most do it for profit- whether their own personal gain or their country’s perceived gains.
Thanks for the visit AND the comment.
Interesting, we have similar issues here in the UK
Barry Joyce recently posted..Social networking tools for geographical location of a business
Wait until you see the rest of the series, Barry!
It is clearly a world-wide problem. (Even in Korea, China, and Russia- where they try to make sure more of the other nations are attacked.)