Cyberattack + Physical Attack
GCN–
Cyberattacks increasingly will be used to magnify the effect of physical attacks or hamper responses to them, said analysts from the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit. “In the future, cybervulnerabilities will determine where physical attacks will take place,” said Scott Borg, director and chief economist of the US-CCU, in a GovSec presentation.
Interesting argument in that he says physical infrastructure would be targeted based on electronic weaknesses. Future problems can be prevented if we do not follow a “hard shell” strategy in securing infrastructure.
Subverted P2P Platforms
Netcraft –
“The rash of large P2P attacks we have seen in the last month is a perfect example of how the DDoS problem constantly evolves,” said Darren Rennick, CEO of Prolexic. “Until January of this year we had never seen a peer-to-peer network subverted and used for an attack. We now see them constantly being subverted.”
Remember, flat platforms can be used for anything. We see this from globalization to P2P networks to roadways.
New Zealand Upgrades Power Grid
ZD–
Power grid operator Transpower New Zealand will install an IP-based communications network to help manage New Zealand’s national electricity grid.
The work will see the company’s legacy systems migrated to an IP/MPLS system over a fibre and microwave radio network, according to Alcatel-Lucent. The network will provide Voice over IP, wireless LAN, digital microwave and LAN switching capabilities.
While the added capabilities are a positive, it also presents a major threat if not properly executed in terms of network security.
Freakonomics On Black Swan
Dubner has a fun and smart Q+A with Taleb.
Where I Differ From Lind
Lind:
I have touched on this point in earlier columns, but here I want to state it as plainly as I can: in a Fourth Generation world, multiculturalism is the death of states.
This approach is flawed because he is convinced that the state will die. With that mentality it is easy to get lost in the battle for monoculturalism, because the threat becomes existential.
Multiculturalism, however, is a given in an era of empowered groups. Any attempt to rid us of it is regressive. The state will not die because the center of gravity has descended by an order of magnitude. It will simply adapt. Why not seize the opportunity instead of a move backwards.
Lind actually touches on the solution, scaling down the state, but does not take it seriously:
Yes, there can be exceptions, as Switzerland illustrates. But the primary loyalty and level of government in Switzerland is the canton, not the federal state, and most cantons are monocultural. Switzerland’s current very loose confederation is itself the product of a 19th century multicultural civil war.