Information Warfare: May 26, 2000

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: The G8 nations are holding a meeting in Paris to discuss cybercrimes and cyberterrorism, regarded as "the Internet's next big thing". Many who addressed the conference spoke of impending doom in the form of disruptive attacks from individual hackers, and even more dangerous attacks from criminal organizations and rogue governments. Others called for calm, noting that real bombs still cause far more damage than Internet incidents, although they admitted that we are seeing only the birth of such crimes and their heyday is still in the future. One analyst listed cyber attacks as the third largest threat to developed nations, after only nuclear weapons and chemical/biological terrorism. Some possible attack scenarios included: 

1.Criminal groups draining hundreds of bank accounts.


2. Pranksters turning off air traffic control systems, or criminals doing so for ransom.


3. Cities transported to the dark ages as their electrical systems are shut down for days.


4. Mass deletion of records at major police departments, disrupting the justice system.


5. Mass deletion of government records, disrupting payrolls or contracts.


6. Criminals tampering with hospital records as a means of murdering key targets by deleting references to drugs they are allergic to.


7. Millions of bank accounts suddenly frozen, disrupting major segments of the economy.

8. Low-security military logistics computers being reprogrammed to send the wrong supplies to troops involved in a conflict.


9. Serious accidents caused at nuclear plants (or chemical plants, refineries, or other industrial facilities) causing tens of thousands of civilians to be injured or killed.


10. Military radars reprogrammed to show non-existent threats.--Stephen V Cole


 

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