Virus deluge on 9/11/02, part 2

Rob Rosenberger, Vmyths co-founder
Thursday, 5 September 2002 LET'S GIVE THE fearmongers at mi2g some credit for sticking to their guns. They still fear cyber-terrorism may occur on the first anniversary of 9/11.

" 'We could see the US and its allies ... [being] attacked digitally as we head towards 11th September and the weeks building up to the proposed attack on Iraq' said [mi2g fearmonger] DK Matai..."

And — in a move straight out of the cyber-terror PR handbook — mi2g warned Osama bin Virus may attack SCADA devices on that (probably) fateful day. Quoting from a press release dated 30 August:

Post 11th September, pro-Islamic hacker groups have come together to launch digital attacks on the US/UK, Israel and India with anti-war messages against the "War on Terrorism", Israeli occupation of Palestine and Indian rule over Kashmir. Economic damage has ensued from digital attacks through business interruption, loss of reputation, identity theft and share price decline. "Starting with NATO-Serbia and China-Taiwan digital warfare in 1999, it would seem highly likely that the launch of a physical attack on Iraq will see counter-attacks from disgruntled Arab, Islamic fundamentalist and anti-American groups," said DK Matai, Chairman and CEO of mi2g. The sophistication of organized cyber terrorism groups has been rising significantly in 2002 as they have embarked on detailed digital surveillance and reconnaissance as well as the gathering of critical intelligence on economic targets within financial services, manufacturing, transport and utilities. The critical national infrastructure of NATO member countries including the US and UK is ultimately driven by a network of SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) systems, PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) and DCS (Distributed Control Systems). These are likely to be the next major conduits for remote attack, which could disrupt power stations, water and sewage treatment plants as well as major communication and transportation hubs... The anniversary of 11th September’s terrorist attacks could prompt new action by way of further attacks on the US. All major annual events like the World Economic Forum summit or May Day rallies carry a heightened level of ideologically motivated attack. "Despite laws that have been passed which qualify digital attack as terrorism, we could see the US and its allies supporting the War on Terrorism attacked digitally as we head towards 11th September and the weeks building up to the proposed attack on Iraq" said DK Matai.

(You do remember the horrifying NATO-Serbia cyber-war, right? You do remember the horrifying China-Taiwan cyber-war, right? Good. Let's continue.) I want to ask a simple philosophical question. Let's suppose a deadly über-hacker works for Osama bin Virus. He can delete whole cities with two mouseclicks — he can "drag & drop" millions of Americans into lime pits — and he fully intends to do it on some specific date. Tell me: why would he wait patiently until the 11^th of September to "fdisk" the United States? A savvy cyber-terrorist would kill the infidels when they least expect it — like, say, on 9/11/01 in conjunction with all of the physical terrorism. Okay, now I'll ask another simple philosophical question. Why didn't the bogeyman launch a devastating cyber-attack when U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan? Surely Al Qaeda would use every weapon at their disposal to repel network-centric warriors. CERT^® team leader Casey J. Dunlevy recently asked an audience to imagine a suicide hacker who programs a Pentagon logistics computer to ship a million crates of useless 7mm bolts instead of much-needed 6mm bolts! Dunlevy implied it would cripple the world's most retreat-prone military, and I can believe it. U.S. generals would have no choice but to order a hasty withdrawal.
TERRORISTS WILL FLY jetliners into skyscrapers just to squish thousands of people. Terrorists will stock a dinghy with dynamite just to sink a U.S. warship. Terrorists will strap explosives to their chests just to mutilate a dozen people in a shopping mall. But terrorists don't kill us by computer.

Why would a cyber-terrorist wait patiently until the 11^th of September to "fdisk" the United states? Why wouldn't he cyber-kill the infidels when they least expect it?

Terrorists don't even try to hack us to death! The media should ask mi2g "why not?" It's such a simple philosophical question... ...But the media won't ask it. mi2g's fearmongering earned them yet another story on vnunet thanks to a copy boy named James Middleton. Vmyths reader John Sowerby noticed the BBC published a thinly veiled story based entirely on mi2g's press release. Regular readers will recall I slammed Middleton for exhibiting a Pavlovian response in the presence of an mi2g stimulus. While writing this column, I (finally) realized "vnunet" spells its name entirely in lowercase, just like mi2g. Hmmm. Does Middleton's devotion spring from nothing more than a granfalloon? The BBC piece leads off with a photo of a nuclear power plant worker who wears a hard hat while staring at an array of low-tech dials & analog gauges. Yes, a hard hat — in a story about cyber-terrorism. Then again, the BBC publishes fully-clothed photos of bachelorette tennis star Anna Kournikova whenever they write about naked wives. Go figure. So, mi2g continues to warn how we may be "attacked digitally as we head towards 11th September." Great. I once again call on everyone to shut down the entire Internet as a precaution for 24hrs on that (probably) fateful day. And we probably should scram the rods at every nuclear power plant for 24hrs on that (probably) fateful day. Strictly as a precaution, of course. Who knows what Osama's cyber-terrorists are capable of? Better safe than sorry. Good grief, look at the calendar! We've got less than a week to set our shutdown plans in motion...