Re: [ISN] New York Red Cross Needs Tech assistance!

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Tue Sep 18 2001 - 01:05:58 PDT

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    Forwarded from: Darren Reed <darrenrat_private>
    
    Forgive me for being insensitive, but will someone please explain what
    the World Trade Centre disaster has to do with Information Security ?
    I don't give a rats arse how much money Microsoft has given or how much
    equipment Cisco has donated.
    
    I think I've heard enough about it by now, as has the rest of the world,
    I imagine.  I've observed my minute's silence for those who were unfortunate
    to be caught up in this madness and heck I was standing on top of #2 just a
    few weeks ago.  Lets move on, eh?
    
    A more pertinent angle on this affair is do either the USA or terrorists
    have any plans to make further moves which involve IT: hacking web sites,
    launching huge DDoS attacks, HERF guns, attacking phone exchanges,or
    large Internet telehousing/exchanges, etc.  If Bin Laden is a big user
    of crypto then isn't he just as prone to an IT attack/failure being
    disruptive as anyone in the USA?
    
    Of all of these, the most intesting is HERF.  Why?  Well, if large
    commercial site gets hit/targetted (lets say the NYSE) then does that
    provide the non-government world with the pick to the lock around TEMPEST ?
    Maybe the terrorist groups will use a nuke just to generate a large EMP
    and wipe out a city that way.  Sure, it may be fiction in some movie or
    book, but so was flying a large plane into an American state building
    until last week...(yes, I read "Debt of Honor" some time ago, along with
    "Executive Orders").
    
    Hitting NYC, or just the down town area with a large EMP would have a
    much more devastating effect, (if it was able to penetrate some of those
    old stone bulidings) than killing thousands, on the NYSE, with most of
    the big computer suppliers now running on lead times of "weeks" to prevent
    inventory buildup.  Maybe those sort of weapons are too hard to build and
    operate for Bin Laden, maybe he's never heard of them - lets hope he hasn't
    or it's just too hard for him to make.
    
    Anyway, this is more appropriate for a risks forum now than here...but
    please, no more WTC stuff, eh, unless it has a direct relationship with
    IT security ?
    
    Darren
    
    
    
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