Bloggers Threaten America

[Tami]

[url=\"http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080131.wgtcyberstorm0131/BNStory/Technology/\"]In mock disaster drill, bloggers threaten America[/url]

Associated Press

BY TED BRIDIS — It's the government's idea of a really bad day: Washington's Metro trains shut down. Seaport computers in New York go dark. Bloggers reveal locations of railcars with hazardous materials. Airport control towers are disrupted in Philadelphia and Chicago. Overseas, a mysterious liquid is found on London's subway.

And that's just for starters.

Those incidents were among dozens of detailed, mock disasters confronting officials rapid-fire in the U.S. government's biggest-ever “Cyber Storm” war game, according to hundreds of pages of heavily censored files obtained by The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department ran the exercise to test the nation's hacker defences, with help from the State Department, Pentagon, Justice Department, CIA, National Security Agency and others.

The laundry list of fictional catastrophes — which include hundreds of people on “No Fly” lists suddenly arriving at airport ticket counters — is significant because it suggests what kind of real-world trouble keeps people in the White House awake at night.

Imagined villains include hackers, bloggers and even reporters. After mock electronic attacks overwhelmed computers at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, an unspecified “major news network” airing reports about the attackers refused to reveal its sources to the government. Other simulated reporters were duped into spreading “believable but misleading” information that worsened fallout by confusing the public and financial markets, according to the government's files.

... [url=\"http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080131.wgtcyberstorm0131/BNStory/Technology/\"]read the rest of the article[/url] ...

[Jim]

Why do people publish lists like these? Someone out there is probably saying "that sounds like a good idea" =\

[Tami]

But now they've practiced how to handle those ideas, so they're prepared, right? /bigwink.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\';)\' />

[Jim]

hah ahaha hahahaha...yea! of course /blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />

[Tami]

Of course, after the JOY we felt while waiting to enter the US of A this evening....wait...don't go there, public forum /bigwink.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\';)\' />