Anyone see the 60 Minutes CyberAttack Segment Tonight?
- Thread starter Flashy
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HellsKitchenmanNYC
Expert Member
i honestly can't even hope to in to the kind of depths that it reaches...it was horrifying...go to the website if you can and watch the episode.
apparently in 2007, we suffered a massive breach of the defense department, CentCom, the State Department, Dept of Energy, and several other highly important departments...the ones who hit us took out "several terrabytes" of information on a massive range and depth of of critical US systems, energy grids, military commands, you name it...
to understand how much a terabyte is, one library of congress is approximately saved on 1 terabyte...and these folks got away with several terabytes worth,
not to mention, these aren't just computer geeks...they are the intel services of other countries, special groups of russian mob, that have been stealing money from banks, rather easily, and a host of other disturbing things
i am now officially terrified.
:frown1:
camper joe
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I watched the 60 minute piece, and what struck me was that although a clever financial strike would create a long term havoc on Wall St., a computer attack on our electric grid would do more harm to the over all psych of our nation as a hold.
If a rogue hacker that could turn off our electric grid in the winter, sending millions into the dark and cold, it would creating a mass hysteria unseen in this nation before.
I doubt the majority of the homes in the USA are not equipped with a secondary heating system, so an untold number would suffer and die from the lack of heat. And it is also my understanding that once the system is down, it takes some planning and a great deal of work just to get it back up rolling again. Plus once running even more issues will be raised. It might not only take days but even weeks until normalcy is returned. I guess there is something good to be said for global warming.
Should we be worried? Yes. Should the government be doing more? Yes. Should I move farther south and keep my money in silver and gold?
If a rogue hacker that could turn off our electric grid in the winter, sending millions into the dark and cold, it would creating a mass hysteria unseen in this nation before.
I doubt the majority of the homes in the USA are not equipped with a secondary heating system, so an untold number would suffer and die from the lack of heat. And it is also my understanding that once the system is down, it takes some planning and a great deal of work just to get it back up rolling again. Plus once running even more issues will be raised. It might not only take days but even weeks until normalcy is returned. I guess there is something good to be said for global warming.
Should we be worried? Yes. Should the government be doing more? Yes. Should I move farther south and keep my money in silver and gold?
D_Gunther Snotpole
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A small point, Flashy, but I thought the program itself said 12 terabytes (I may be wrong), and apparently the Library of Congress says up to 20 terabytes.
Here's a quote from Wikipedia:
The Library of Congress is usually quoted as occupying, if digitized and stored as plain text, 20 terabytes of information (10 in other quotations), based on the amount of cataloged books in the Library of Congress classification system (20 million in 2007) and estimating one megabyte of text per book. This leads many people to conclude that 20 terabytes is equivalent to the entire holdings of the Library, but this is misleading because the Library contains many items in addition to books, such as manuscripts, photographs, maps, and sound recordings, that, if digitized, would amount to much more information.
Well, the story did point out that the Americans are as involved in, and successful at, these types of penetrations as anyone.
I'm sorta stoic, but there's lots to worry about there. Yup.
well, that is certainly a huge worry, camper joe...but i feel pretty confident i could survive the power going off even in a very cold winter...
most people, with some proper planning and common sense could, as well...
but complete chaos in the financial system would throw all of everything in to disarray...it would be total chaos on every level.
i and my extended family, have always kept emergency precious metals, just in case. because when everything goes to shit, paper money and computer digits are not tangible...gold, platinum, and tradables are. the likelihood of even getting your precious metals out of your bank or storage facility in an emergency like that are still pretty limited...
i have always kept a certain amount of gold wafers and coins, in a safe, where only i know it is, and my family does similar...because you never know.
getting back to having the power go off in winter...it would be very very hard for the poor, the young and the elderly...but with some intelligence and forethought it could be rather easily dealt with...
personally, i always keep plenty of canned and dried food on hand anyway, things that do not spoil...tons of bottled water anyway, etc...
tons of matches, candles, lighters, flashlights, radio with batteries...
my home and that of my parents has literally dozens and dozens of blankets and quilts...i have tons of warm clothing, thermals, etc...
in an emergency you can always burn paper and wooden tables etc. for warmth...
obviously, on a larger scale, it would be necessary for hospitals, police stations, fire stations etc and such to have emergency generators which most do...schools and most if not all businesses would obviously be closed...transit could still operate (Cars, buses...) curfews might be enforced...
likely, this would only happen in a couple of regions at most, so many people would still be able to leave for friends and family destinations in warmer climates by car...
other regions that were still operating could easily send emergency supplies...
obviously, it would not be a whole lot of fun...but seriously...our ancestors used to survive crossing 2,000 miles of wilderness to get from the mid west to california...all they had was fire, a horse, maybe a wagon, and a rifle and some ammo, and some warm clothes...
even if it took two weeks to get the grid back up again, if we couldn't last that long, it would an indictment of just how pampered we have become.
(IMO)
I have plenty of books to read, music to listen to etc...i think i could make it pretty easily....it would be highly inconvenient, and it would probably be pretty cold and a bit boring...
most people, with some proper planning and common sense could, as well...
but complete chaos in the financial system would throw all of everything in to disarray...it would be total chaos on every level.
i and my extended family, have always kept emergency precious metals, just in case. because when everything goes to shit, paper money and computer digits are not tangible...gold, platinum, and tradables are. the likelihood of even getting your precious metals out of your bank or storage facility in an emergency like that are still pretty limited...
i have always kept a certain amount of gold wafers and coins, in a safe, where only i know it is, and my family does similar...because you never know.
getting back to having the power go off in winter...it would be very very hard for the poor, the young and the elderly...but with some intelligence and forethought it could be rather easily dealt with...
personally, i always keep plenty of canned and dried food on hand anyway, things that do not spoil...tons of bottled water anyway, etc...
tons of matches, candles, lighters, flashlights, radio with batteries...
my home and that of my parents has literally dozens and dozens of blankets and quilts...i have tons of warm clothing, thermals, etc...
in an emergency you can always burn paper and wooden tables etc. for warmth...
obviously, on a larger scale, it would be necessary for hospitals, police stations, fire stations etc and such to have emergency generators which most do...schools and most if not all businesses would obviously be closed...transit could still operate (Cars, buses...) curfews might be enforced...
likely, this would only happen in a couple of regions at most, so many people would still be able to leave for friends and family destinations in warmer climates by car...
other regions that were still operating could easily send emergency supplies...
obviously, it would not be a whole lot of fun...but seriously...our ancestors used to survive crossing 2,000 miles of wilderness to get from the mid west to california...all they had was fire, a horse, maybe a wagon, and a rifle and some ammo, and some warm clothes...
even if it took two weeks to get the grid back up again, if we couldn't last that long, it would an indictment of just how pampered we have become.
(IMO)
I have plenty of books to read, music to listen to etc...i think i could make it pretty easily....it would be highly inconvenient, and it would probably be pretty cold and a bit boring...
Last edited:
you are probably right rubi...i was just typing as fast as i could and could not recall the numbers...i thought it was 12 terabytes, but then i thought he said one TB...either way...it is a lot of data :wink:
considering i have a 2 TB external hard drive, and i think of what that could hold, then they got alot
- Mem,
The heat going off in South Florida is no problem. :biggrin1: Last year (my first winter here) I didn't need it at all.
The bigger problem with homes in cold climates not having heat is that your pipes will freeze and burst.
Many homes are heated with oil and gas heat. I don't know it newer furnaces have electrical components that are needed for them to work.
It doesn't make sense to worry about what may or may not happen.
The bigger problem with homes in cold climates not having heat is that your pipes will freeze and burst.
Many homes are heated with oil and gas heat. I don't know it newer furnaces have electrical components that are needed for them to work.
It doesn't make sense to worry about what may or may not happen.
EagleCowboy
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Do you guys realize that ordinary Chinese citizens are ENCOURAGED to be hackers? Something like 3 out of 10 people, I think? They love to target proprietary software like anything Microsoft. It's so easy because proprietary software rarely ever changes. Windows 7 pretty much proved this recently. If you're running Open source software, you're chances of being attacked are negligible.
BigDallasDick8x6
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I'm not a survivalist, but I do have some neat stuff including a flashlight powered by a crank. No need for batteries. I am also going to get a Storm Tracker -- which is a radio, weather band radio, and TV combo. Saw it at the hardware store a while back and wanted to wait until the conversion to digital to make sure it worked. It too is powered by a crank (magneto) which makes it great for camping trips as well as if the power goes out and I am out of batteries. The world doesn't have to come to an end for some preparation to be useful. We have enough storms and downed powerlines in Texas that a TV that works without being plugged in and without batteries is a very good thing.
okay...now i am truly terrified...
i am watching "Apocalypse 2012"...a scientific look at all the hysteria about 2012 etc...on the discovery channel...so it is reputable and not fear mongering...
and let me say...it would *REALLY* suck if what they were talking about comes to pass...i always knew about that volcano in the canary islands...but these solar flares etc are now even scarier.
christ...when is the first transport to Mars? :frown1:
i am watching "Apocalypse 2012"...a scientific look at all the hysteria about 2012 etc...on the discovery channel...so it is reputable and not fear mongering...
and let me say...it would *REALLY* suck if what they were talking about comes to pass...i always knew about that volcano in the canary islands...but these solar flares etc are now even scarier.
christ...when is the first transport to Mars? :frown1:
Now why go and watch THAT when you're already upset about the hacking thing? Discovery is not necessarily reputable. They show psychic/ghost programs all the time. They're becoming the "What If...." channel. I'm watching National Geographic and they're going on and on about Noah's Ark and there's NOTHING factual about that.
D_Fiona_Farvel
Account Disabled
I'm terrified by the declarations of fear in this thread. Maybe I am used to being "off-the-grid" due to growing up in a rural area, but seriously, where is the freakin' resiliency? 2012?
Heat goes off? People start fires or use other methods of keeping warm - any mass hysteria would be an overreaction to a temporary, and certainly seasonal, issue.
The rest? Whatever. Our intelligence people, including Richard Clarke, have been warning of security breaches and U.S. vulnerability to cyber attacks for a decade. If we and our representatives have done nothing about it - perhaps we deserve a kick in our hubris.
2012? Heat goes off? People start fires or use other methods of keeping warm - any mass hysteria would be an overreaction to a temporary, and certainly seasonal, issue.
The rest? Whatever. Our intelligence people, including Richard Clarke, have been warning of security breaches and U.S. vulnerability to cyber attacks for a decade. If we and our representatives have done nothing about it - perhaps we deserve a kick in our hubris.
camper joe
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You my friend have never seen the near mass hysteria that happens here when the weatherman calls for a few inches of snow. The grocery stores are packed with moms grabbing the two main necessities of bread and milk. In a blackout situation, well I just hope it wouldn't resort to mob rule, before I can flee.
EagleCowboy
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That's nothing. Go into any Wal-Mart and yell "THERE'S ONLY 2 BEANIE BABIES LEFT!!"
(or some other current stupid trendy item) and watch the stampede ensue.
(or some other current stupid trendy item) and watch the stampede ensue.
