Hacking

[Caribou]

This could be posted in news but I'd like to discuss what we can do to prepare for our vital systems being hacked.



The nation’s top intelligence officer sounded the alarm on persistent Russian cyberattacks and the threat enemy hackers pose to the United States on Friday, the same day special counsel Robert Mueller announced the indictments of 12 Russian intelligence officers.

What are the details?
Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, explained during an event at the Hudson Institute in Washington that the rate at which foreign actors are attacking U.S. cyber infrastructure is similar to warnings the U.S. received on terrorism prior to the 9/11 attacks.


“The warning lights are blinking red again,” Coats said, according to the New York Times. “Today, the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack.”

Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Coats said the Russian government was directly responsible for the cyberattacks. He said the U.S. has experienced sophisticated attacks on cyber-systems in the energy, nuclear, water, and manufacturing sectors.

“These actions are persistent, they are pervasive and they are meant to undermine America’s democracy,” he said.

Coats also expressed frustration with the U.S. government’s cyberspace strategy, which he said emphasizes defense. Instead, Coats suggested the U.S. employ an offensive strategy similar to the Reagan administration’s cold-war Russia strategy. If Russia is determined to attack the U.S. in the cyberspace, then the U.S. should “throw everything we have got into it,” Coats said.

The former Republican senator’s comments came just days ahead of President Donald Trump’s much anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Coats said that if it were him meeting with the Russian leader, then he would make it clear the U.S. knows Russia is responsible for the cyberattacks and further attacks will not be tolerated.

Trump said Friday he will address Russian “meddling” with Putin.

What is the government doing to prevent further attacks?
Obviously, Coats did not divulge details about U.S. cyber-defense systems, but stressed the Department of Homeland Security and FBI are working with states to help them secure their midterm elections.


https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/...14&utm_term=TheBlaze Daily PM - last 270 days

 

[TMT Tactical]

The meddling is nothing new for them and certainly nothing new for us. All governments spy (hack) each other friend and foe alike. We all should be taking as many precautions as we can handle. VPN, Virus protection. ADware protection, and all the other nasty stuff protection. Now as for what the government doing, they take their lead from the top down. So ask yourself, who hit the reset button with Russia. Who paid off Iran and what party did they represent. I know I am preaching to the choir but maybe the choir should help the sheeple remember who was in charge when this stuff was hitting the fan.

 

[Meerkat]

The hag is the hacker ,she sure did a hacking number on her puter.
Spy vs Spy is nothing new in the nations game plans.

 

[joel]

The danger is real, but not new.
Like fake news hackers have been with us for years.
We should do what we can to stop both including emailing Congress to let them know what we think.

 

[Bacpacker]

At work we get attacked on a daily basis. There is an entire group that's sole focus is to monitor and respond to any attack coming in. Russia gets a bad name now days from the Libs, but from what I have knowledge of china is much more involved and has been since the 90's. IMO Clinton set them up back then just like he did with the missile technology that had ended up in NK.
Cyber attacks are going to continue and most likely increase going forward.

 

[hiwall]

Our gov entities almost always blame Russia but many of the top tech guys say there is no way to tell who is doing the hacking if they are very good at it. I am not smart enough to know who is correct.
IF our gov knows who is doing the hacking then we likely do not have to worry too much about a major disruption (like grid shutdown or bank shutdowns) because the other country would rightfully fear nuclear retaliation from us.
But if our gov cannot know who the hackers are with any certainty then there would be no fear of nuclear retaliation from us and the threat of a major disruption is Much greater.
As far as preparing for this- we all prepare for bad times. What brings about the bad times does not really matter.

 

[SheepDog]

If you can trace a hack you are dealing with a novice. The real hackers, both white hat and black hat, use multiple VPNs and closed networked computers to avoid a trace. Right now the political system is trying very hard to undermine the present majority and everything they do. Russia is getting a lot of blame but China is probably more active. The third world is also becoming more active but to a lesser degree.
You can protect your own computer with firewalls and anti-virus software but hackers use hardware vulnerabilities more often than brute force software attacks. For instance I can email a worm embedded into a note to a few people who will unknowingly pass it on to tens of other people who then pass it on to hundreds, then thousands and so on. The worm does nothing to let you know it is there and it will just listen for certain keys - like the operating system or the type of device and installed firmware. It sends back notice to me when it finds something I was looking for. I get notification that it has found a pump controller at a nuclear power plant and it has a known bug in the firmware. Or a switch control at a large substation that can cause a SCRAM in the electrical grid. All I have to do is use the known bug to get into the root of the firmware and then I have control over it. I can shut down the nuclear power plant cooling pumps or trip the breakers at the substation and then everyone goes into emergency mode trying to fix something that they no longer have any control over. The repair has to be done manually. There are very few people who can do anything manually in this digital world.
The same technique can be used to hack everything from a pacemaker to a toy, refrigerator or any WiFi connected device.

 

[Caribou]

So, how do we protect ourselves?

I have my own well and a septic system. I do get natural gas and electricity from the grid. I have a contractor lined up to install my wood stove this summer. This will take care of the heat if the gas or electricity go down. I have two generators, a supply of gasoline, and a start on a solar system if the power goes out.

I'll be able to do some cooking with the propane I have stored as well as on top of the wood stove.

I see three threats to the grid around here. First is a cyber attack, second is a physical attack by terrorists, and most likely is an earthquake.

 

[TMT Tactical]

Bottom line, if you are connected to the grid, you cannot protect yourself. The next issue is if you are farming / ranching and using ANY modern chemicals, feeds, or supplements, then you cannot protect yourself, only minimize some of the damage. Putting on my Tinfoil Hat, The grid goes down (any reason --natural, man made or what ever) -- the economy collapses. No new supplies being delivered, no animal feed, VET supplies, ferterlizer, nada, nothing. Folks will be darn lucky if food and water gets delivered, you can forget any animal / agriculture supplies. So if your ranch animals depend of store bought feed or medicine, they are going to be in deep doo-doo. The same with farmers that depend on modern chemicals (of any type) to help with the crops. The water is going to be a major problem for most farmers, they rely on pumps, not gravity feed system. Pretty darn tough to hand water 40 acres or a 100 cattle. Folks tend to forget the real ecosystem is more than just power to their homes or offices. Rural life is a whole different world when there is no power. Solar for the home is great but if you can't get water to the crops or the critters, you are going to have a real difficult life ahead. If your critters (goats, sheep, cattle, chickens, etc.) depend on feed you are not growing, they are going to have a very difficult adjustment ahead.

Black Hat Hacking is very serious and should be treated as an act of war and any malicious hacking should carry the death penalty. The reasoning is outline above, too many folks (almost all) will be severely effected, in a very negative manner. Spying is one thing, all countries and many businesses do it, without negative results, except stolen ideas / research. But black hat hacking is a completely different animal and must be treated in the harshest manner possible. JM2C

 

[angie_nrs]

It seems to me that the way to protect against this type of attack is NOT to be plugged into the web in the first place. I have absolutely no idea how the grid works, but wouldn't it make sense to have the local control centers of the grid controlled by a system that is not plugged into the web? They could also have separate information systems that use the web but would have no direct access to controls. That way the local folks could get up to date information but do their own programming and adjustments on site.

I've heard (and don't know if it's true) that tech from our nuke systems are still from the 70's. I don't know if they've been updated yet.....but when I heard this a few years ago (on 60 minutes, I think....so take that for what it's worth) the nukes were not hack-able b/c they were still using outdated technology such as floppy disks. Brilliant! LOL!

This is also one of the many reasons I don't like the new electric digital smart meters they are trying to put on all homes. At least with the analog systems, someone couldn't hack my information or have as much control over a dial as they could with digital numbers. It's also a reason I think we need to do away with digital ballot boxes. The punch cards take longer and also have some of their own issues....but I much prefer those to digital voting machines where massive information could be corrupted at once. It would be much more difficult to corrupt the old fashioned way. I'll wait a few days or even weeks to know the outcome of an election if I know the results are real.

Then again.....I am NOT a techie. I prefer basic tech that makes my life easier, but other than that.....I'm not a fan.

 

[Meerkat]

The danger is real, but not new.
Like fake news hackers have been with us for years.
We should do what we can to stop both including emailing Congress to let them know what we think.

Sounds good but I don't think they care what we think. Power corrupts and absolute power like we handed to them corrupts absolutely.
We are heading into mob rule and then they will bring in the forces to control us. So good luck thinking you still have any real influence.
Unless we can change our morals and values and come together and that isn't looking too promising either. Look at our nations idols and who we spend our time and money on.
Like the Frenchman said when he wondered how we became so great so fast. " America is great because America is good, if American cease's to be good it will cease to be great". paraquote.
I'll vote and hope and pray for the best. Meantime I'll just pray for us all.
All I have is an opinion so this is mine and could change at any moment.

 

[Meerkat]

Bottom line, if you are connected to the grid, you cannot protect yourself. The next issue is if you are farming / ranching and using ANY modern chemicals, feeds, or supplements, then you cannot protect yourself, only minimize some of the damage. Putting on my Tinfoil Hat, The grid goes down (any reason --natural, man made or what ever) -- the economy collapses. No new supplies being delivered, no animal feed, VET supplies, ferterlizer, nada, nothing. Folks will be darn lucky if food and water gets delivered, you can forget any animal / agriculture supplies. So if your ranch animals depend of store bought feed or medicine, they are going to be in deep doo-doo. The same with farmers that depend on modern chemicals (of any type) to help with the crops. The water is going to be a major problem for most farmers, they rely on pumps, not gravity feed system. Pretty darn tough to hand water 40 acres or a 100 cattle. Folks tend to forget the real ecosystem is more than just power to their homes or offices. Rural life is a whole different world when there is no power. Solar for the home is great but if you can't get water to the crops or the critters, you are going to have a real difficult life ahead. If your critters (goats, sheep, cattle, chickens, etc.) depend on feed you are not growing, they are going to have a very difficult adjustment ahead.

Black Hat Hacking is very serious and should be treated as an act of war and any malicious hacking should carry the death penalty. The reasoning is outline above, too many folks (almost all) will be severely effected, in a very negative manner. Spying is one thing, all countries and many businesses do it, without negative results, except stolen ideas / research. But black hat hacking is a completely different animal and must be treated in the harshest manner possible. JM2C

I figure if you can grow beans and potatoes and a couple other things well maybe set traps, you can survive. If you have water. If you survive the others who didn't prepare at all.

 

[Meerkat]

It seems to me that the way to protect against this type of attack is NOT to be plugged into the web in the first place. I have absolutely no idea how the grid works, but wouldn't it make sense to have the local control centers of the grid controlled by a system that is not plugged into the web? They could also have separate information systems that use the web but would have no direct access to controls. That way the local folks could get up to date information but do their own programming and adjustments on site.

I've heard (and don't know if it's true) that tech from our nuke systems are still from the 70's. I don't know if they've been updated yet.....but when I heard this a few years ago (on 60 minutes, I think....so take that for what it's worth) the nukes were not hack-able b/c they were still using outdated technology such as floppy disks. Brilliant! LOL!

This is also one of the many reasons I don't like the new electric digital smart meters they are trying to put on all homes. At least with the analog systems, someone couldn't hack my information or have as much control over a dial as they could with digital numbers. It's also a reason I think we need to do away with digital ballot boxes. The punch cards take longer and also have some of their own issues....but I much prefer those to digital voting machines where massive information could be corrupted at once. It would be much more difficult to corrupt the old fashioned way. I'll wait a few days or even weeks to know the outcome of an election if I know the results are real.

Then again.....I am NOT a techie. I prefer basic tech that makes my life easier, but other than that.....I'm not a fan.

Maybe a transitor radio and batteries.