Who Is on the Internet? and How Vulnerable are We?
The image below is an international display of who is on the Internet according to the World Bank and Bloomberg Business Week. The top line is total population on the Internet, and the line below that is what percent that number represents of the total population.
I found this information interesting because I am reading a book called "Cyberstorm" by Matthew Mather. It is an interesting book, and the genre type is one I tend not to read. Amazon says about it:
And, so I ask the question, in a "cyberstorm" where all networks were to come down — who would be the most vulnerable? From the above data, I guess that would be the US, South Korea and Sweden, followed closely by Argentina and Russia. As I read this book I am constantly thinking that one of the things we all have to insist from our government is that they begin to shore-up our firewalls. And even if they do that, there seems to be some part of this scenario where you have to take extraordinary measures yourself to protect your own systems. Just look at the number of big entities lately that have been hacked — New York Times, Coca-Cola, Lockheed Martin and Google.
How many friends have said to you in the last year, "OMG! My gmail's been hacked!"
In the above Cyberstorm scenario, one of the selling points of the apartment building that Mike Mitchell lives in is that the security system works off the Internet. This meant that he could view and control his apartment's security from his cell phone. The down side of that is that if someone has hacked into your security's security — you are screwed.
"The US doesn't make generators like that anymore."
"So who does?"
Chuck trudged on in the snow in silence.
"Guess."
I could see where this was going.
"China?"
"Yep."
"So, the generators could be rigged to be wrecked remotely, and we have no way of getting replacements unless we go to China."
I sighed.
"And this is more or less the same for all of our critical systems— water, dams, nuclear reactors, transport, shipping, food emergency, government services, even our militia. Tell me something that isn't wired somehow into the Internet and using Chinese parts?"
I have been thinking about buying a crank driven short-wave radio in the event that our power system goes down (like it did in October '11 for a week). I am also thinking of buying a big hybrid, solar/gas generator in the event of a power grid go-down. After reading this book this is not even a nice to have— it's a necessity.
"Mike Mitchell, an average New Yorker already struggling to keep his
family together, suddenly finds himself fighting just to keep them alive
when an increasingly bizarre string of disasters start appearing on the
world's news networks. As the world and cyberworld come crashing down, and a monster snowstorm cuts New York off
from the world . . .
. . . where everyone has to fend for themselves.
And, so I ask the question, in a "cyberstorm" where all networks were to come down — who would be the most vulnerable? From the above data, I guess that would be the US, South Korea and Sweden, followed closely by Argentina and Russia. As I read this book I am constantly thinking that one of the things we all have to insist from our government is that they begin to shore-up our firewalls. And even if they do that, there seems to be some part of this scenario where you have to take extraordinary measures yourself to protect your own systems. Just look at the number of big entities lately that have been hacked — New York Times, Coca-Cola, Lockheed Martin and Google.
How many friends have said to you in the last year, "OMG! My gmail's been hacked!"
The way this book depicts it, it all seems so easy to have happen, and yet it is not far-fetched. It just wouldn't take much. I have already blogged about this (Snippet #4), and I feel like this is not a "Chicken Little" scenario. I believe at some point in the future we all will begin to see cyber-espionage affect our daily lives.
[ From Cyberstorm ]
"So how does it get worse?""The US doesn't make generators like that anymore."
"So who does?"
Chuck trudged on in the snow in silence.
"Guess."
I could see where this was going.
"China?"
"Yep."
"So, the generators could be rigged to be wrecked remotely, and we have no way of getting replacements unless we go to China."
I sighed.
"And this is more or less the same for all of our critical systems— water, dams, nuclear reactors, transport, shipping, food emergency, government services, even our militia. Tell me something that isn't wired somehow into the Internet and using Chinese parts?"
I have been thinking about buying a crank driven short-wave radio in the event that our power system goes down (like it did in October '11 for a week). I am also thinking of buying a big hybrid, solar/gas generator in the event of a power grid go-down. After reading this book this is not even a nice to have— it's a necessity.
I've begun to amass can goods in my pantry. It just seems like good sense. I have a charcoal grill, which by the way, I used every day in that October'11 storm making coffee and cooking dinner.
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