Is this a good time to cancel the CYBER ATTACK?

[Liberal In Texas]

All day today on DU there has been this BS panic about ...

...Uncle Al Quida just destroying the finance system of the US...DUers were talking about not paying bills on-line and all kinds of nutty things.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2837308

Was it indeed, "The the Most Important Story of the Day"?

I think not.

I'm not sure I can find all the posts today (Friday) about this near disaster that was coming, but here are some more...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2837082

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2836613

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=2836612

Granted, our so-called government seems to be involved.

But, just stop. Just stop being lemmings with all this fear propaganda.

There was no attack. Nothing happened.

If anything happens like 9/11 it won't be predicted, especially by our government.

[Kutjara]

1. "Al Qaeda" don't need to do a damned thing...

...except shout 'boo!' once in awhile and then sit back while we all piss ourselves with fear. All those estimates saying there are 20,000 or 50,000 or 100,000 Al Qaeda operatives in the world are irrlevant. All it takes is one guy with a laptop and a cellphone to bring America to its knees. And I'm not talking about a sophisticated 'cyberattack,' just a phonecall or email saying 'ooga booga.'

[Liberal In Texas]

2. I'm kinda starting to think that Al Quida is a myth.

Yes, at one time there may have been something like that during the Afgan/Russo wars punctuated by the CIA et al., but not this huge network we've been fed.

I beginning to think that Bin Laden had nothing to do with 9/11. Just blamed.

[Kutjara]

4. I agree.

Our government needed some massive global organization to justify the enormous expenditures of the 'War on Terror.' They'd hardly get carte blanche for international adventures if the best threat they could come up with was a bunch of individuals and small groups whose only connection is an extremist view of Islam and a hatred of America. So instead, the whole ragtag bunch was tied up with a big bow called Al Qaeda and delivered to the American public as if it was one of those James Bond crime syndicates like SMERSH.

The only way Al Qaeda could be more of a cliche is if Osama was videotaped stroking a white cat while laughing maniacally over a map of the world.

[Liberal In Texas]

8. Nice anology. Nice take on it. I agree. n/t

[Irreverend IX]

22. I think Al Qaeda is similar to the US white power/militia movement.

Both are populated by violent and reactionary outcasts from society. Both are made up of scattered cells with no central governance. There is a collection of prominent characters within these movements who offer funds and guidance in exchange for alleigance (Osama, David Duke, Whatshisname Butler), but there's no chain of command or accountability to speak of. Any group of yahoos who hate the system can claim affiliation with these movements. With Al Qaeda, the US has given a name to all the disparate gangs of fanatics in the Sunni Middle East in order to manufacture a boogeyman.

[MADem]

3. Well, the Chinese hacked the computers at the USN War College, shutting down the entire system

Making it difficult for people to do their work...and they're our allies and trading partners!

With friends like that....

[Kutjara]

5. To be fair...

...a British UFO conspiracy buff managed to break into a large number of NASA and DoD computers in his search for 'proof' of Roswell-type shenanigans.

I don't think our systems are as secure as the government likes to pretend they are.

[Liberal In Texas]

6. Hardly the attack predicted.

Our Chinese trading partners. HUH
They own us and we let them buy more debt every day.
Shop at Wal-Mart lately? I don't.

I take your point. And agree. I''m just pissed.

[MADem]

14. I don't shop at Walmart, I'm not much of a consumer, I'm afraid

I tend to use things up and wear them out. I may like the odd gadget, but I don't buy things willy nilly. My car is 20 years old, for example. It still runs just fine.

But they were hacking into the USN/WC and just got caught...maybe looking for some sub info. Fairly recently they pulled a 'surprise surface' during a war game that was 'said' to have taken us by surprise. Whether it actually did or not, who knows. Sometimes it's prudent to let your rivals think you aren't as capable as you are, at other times it works to let them think you've got the best equipment ever...

[Liberal In Texas]

16. A couple of things...

I hear you about using stuff til it drops. We recycle everything we can think of. We are on 100% wind power for elec. If we get rid of anything it goes to the local AIDS outreach store, the used book store, etc. Our house was built in 1947, but is pretty darn energy efficient, and we improve on that every year.

We own 3 cars. One an 87, one a 96, and one an '03. The '03 is an SUV I use for my work. I need it for its size for all the stuff I have to haul, and the way I can tote electronic gear from job to job in air conditioned comfort (comfort for the electronics). As SUV's go, it does pretty well, getting 25 mpg. Our biggest expenses are for computer upgrades, or plants in the garden. Furniture is probably 20+ years old. Much of that was previously owned. We commute about 16 miles round-trip for our jobs, and seldom use the expressways.

I'm not sure what you are on about in the second paragraph, but I'll say this:
Somebody hacking into USN/WC computers is not going to bring the system down. That's why we have the "internets" with all those nice tubes. It's too diverse, and Al Gore (and the DoD) did a nice job of making sure the system would stay viable no matter what kind of attack, or hack.

:-)

[MADem]

20. I was being facetious. The topic of this thread had to do with a big cyber attack that was supposed

to happen this week. That's why I mentioned the USNWC hack--that perhaps the cyberattack rumor had morphed from something else, like, say, a Chinese hack at a military institution of higher learning.

And the War College system was down, because I guess the Chinese did a number on them there. They were doing a forensic exam to find out where they went, what they looked at. There's sensitive material on that system.

By using the term system, I was referring to the intranet at the War College, not the entire 'internets' with those tubes and so forth.

[Liberal In Texas]

21. OK...point taken.

More than that. You're spot on.

[greyl]

7. Your post is exaggerating the reaction here.

Looking at those threads, I see no BS panic. I see skepticism and denial, but nothing like you're describing.
Also, I think you mistook a couple of joke posts for serious ones, ie "I'll pay my bills tomorrow".

[Liberal In Texas]

10. Gawd, this is why I don't post much.

These are only a few of the many posts I looked at today (Friday).

Yes, many were joking around.

But, greyl, it was doom and gloom by and large. I'm a little tired of the "chicken-little" attitude here.

You know must know how it is, find some story picked up by the MSM and run it into the ground, play into their hands.

How much money did YOU lose today on the ATTACK?

I'll bet none.

Nothing happened.

Cancel the panic, and that was my point.

[greyl]

12. Same with that post. nt

[Liberal In Texas]

13. WHAT?

That makes ... sense ... ?

[Old and In the Way]

9. Hey, you didn't list mine!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2996132&mesg_id=2996132

[Liberal In Texas]

11. Sorry. Maybe next time.

Not on purpose.

[Sapphire Blue]

15. The 'threat' is for the entire month of December; DHS is abundantly 'cautious'.

Where's Giuliani?

[Liberal In Texas]

17. Well then. Be afraid. Be VERY afraid.

It's a BS alert and you know it. So do I.

[Sapphire Blue]

18. No... be 'cautious'. Be very 'cautious'.

[aquart]

19. Somebody here bought that garbage?

Forgetting that Al qaida has to use ATMS just like the rest of us?