Friday, September 21, 2018

Cyber Attacks are Existential Risks


John Bolton is a hawk if there ever was one. Unfortunately, the man is now National Security Adviser for President Trump.

I hope we all survive him. 

His latest escalation of cold war politics includes a new set of classified rules for cyber-war engagement that are much more active than Obama's:
Volz, Dustin (2018, Sep 20). White House Confirms It Has Relaxed Rules on U.S. Use of Cyberweapons. The Wall Street Journal, https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-confirms-it-has-relaxed-rules-on-u-s-use-of-cyber-weapons-1537476729
The White House said Thursday it had rescinded a classified Obama-era memorandum dictating when the U.S. government can deploy cyber weaponry against its adversaries, publicly acknowledging the move for the first time.
John Bolton ... confirmed during a press briefing that the old rules had been replaced by new classified guidance intended to empower the Defense Department with more flexibility to launch offensive cyber strikes without first needing to vet those decisions through an elaborate interagency process.

So, there are now LESS CHECKS and BALANCES on cyber-warfare.

What is particularly concerning is that the US is actually more vulnerable to cyber attacks than many other nation-states because its interconnected electrical networks.

Electronic war may seem too futuristic and esoteric to have significant 'real world' consequences when in fact broad-scale electrical outages caused by cyber-attacks could destroy humanity within a short time period.

Nuclear power plants are particularly vulnerable to electrical disruptions caused by cyber-attacks, as discussed in this video by nuclear engineers Mr Arnie Gunderson and David Lochbaum. Their analysis even addresses the many vulnerabilities of the "back-up" generators
http://fairewinds.com/content/why-fukushima-can-happen-here-what-nrc-and-nuclear-industry-dont-want-you-know

Cyber-attacks aimed at disrupting electrical grids could produce nuclear plant meltdowns, including spent fuel pool fires. US nuclear power plants do not have a good track record on their back-up generators:
"4 generator failures hit US nuclear plants" (2011, October 9). The Sun, http://newssun.suntimes.com/business/8125070-420/4-generator-failures-hit-us-nuclear-plants.html
[Excerpted] Four generators that power emergency systems at nuclear plants have failed when needed since April, an unusual cluster that has attracted the attention of federal inspectors and could prompt the industry to re-examine its maintenance plans....In the U.S., an average of roughly one diesel generator has failed when needed each year since 1997....

Moreover, nuclear weapons are susceptible to direct cyber-attacks:
Bruce G. Blairmarch. March 14, 2017. Why Our Nuclear Weapons Can Be Hacked. The New York Times,https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/opinion/why-our-nuclear-weapons-can-be-hacked.html?emc=edit_th_20170314&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=32962000
Cyberwarfare raises a host of other fears. Could a foreign agent launch another country’s missiles against a third country? We don’t know. Could a launch be set off by false early warning data that had been corrupted by hackers? This is an especially grave concern because the president has only three to six minutes to decide how to respond to an apparent nuclear attack.

...We lack adequate control over the supply chain for nuclear components — from design to manufacture to maintenance. We get much of our hardware and software off-the-shelf from commercial sources that could be infected by malware. We nevertheless routinely use them in critical networks...

One of these deficiencies involved the Minuteman silos, whose internet connections could have allowed hackers to cause the missiles’ flight guidance systems to shut down, putting them out of commission and requiring days or weeks to repair. These were not the first cases of cybervulnerability.  In the mid-1990s, the Pentagon uncovered an astonishing firewall breach that could have allowed outside hackers to gain control over the key naval radio transmitter in Maine used to send launching orders to ballistic missile submarines patrolling the Atlantic...
The US infrastructure is particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks:
Nakashima, E. (2013, May 9) U.S. warns industry of heightened risk of cyberattack. The Washington Post,http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-warns-industry-of-heightened-risk-of-cyberattack/2013/05/09/39a04852-b8df-11e2-aa9e-a02b765ff0ea_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines
[Excerpted] Senior U.S. officials have warned in recent months that foreign adversaries are probing computer systems that operate chemical, electric and water plants. But they are also increasingly concerned about the threat of a potentially destructive cyberattack.[end]
Making cyber-warfare easier poses existential risks to humanity.



6 comments:

  1. Not human. Not a sentient being

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TRUMP and Bolton using puppet mercenaries to murder chlidren in iran as the us, escalates war against iran

      https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/09/22/574874/Iran-Ahvaz-terrorist-attack

      Delete
    2. Chemo: 3 Things You Need to Know
      Prostate Cancer: Radioactive Seed Implants

      Radioactive seed implants are a form of radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Brachytherapy, or internal radiation therapy, are also terms used to describe this procedure. There are two types of prostate brachytherapy: permanent and temporary.

      Compared to external radiation, which requires five to eight weeks of daily treatments, convenience is a major advantage of brachytherapy.

      Permanent (Low Dose Rate) Brachytherapy: LDR

      A doctor or clinician implants radioactive (iodine-125 or palladium-103) seeds into the prostate gland using an ultrasound for guidance. The number of seeds and where they are placed is determined by a computer-generated treatment plan tailored for each patient. Anywhere from 40 to 100 seeds are commonly implanted.

      The implants remain in place permanently, and become biologically inert (no longer useful) after a period of months. This technique allows a high dose of radiation to be delivered to the prostate with limited damage to surrounding tissues.

      Temporary (High Dose Rate) Brachytherapy: HDR

      With this technique, hollow needles or hollow catheters are placed into the prostate gland, which are then filled with radioactive material (iridium-192 or cesium 137) for 5-15 minutes. After each treatment the radioactive material is removed. This is repeated two to three times over the next several days. After the final treatment, the catheters or needles are removed.


      Who Is Eligible For This Procedure?

      Seed implants are relatively low-energy sources, and subsequently have limited tissue penetration. Therefore, the best candidates for these procedures are patients who have a cancer that is contained within the prostate and is not very aggressive.

      What Happens Before The Procedure?

      A transrectal ultrasound is done to provide the radiation oncologist with specific details about your case. Newer techniques using a CAT scan or MRI may be used to guide the proper placement of the implants. This information is used to custom-design the treatment plan for you. Another option is for the ultrasound and treatment plan to be done at the same time as the radioactive seeds are implanted.

      What Happens During The Procedure?

      The entire procedure takes approximately 90 minutes. Most patients go home the same day.

      A radiation oncologist and urologist perform the procedure. Both physicians are actively involved in all aspects of the implantation, from the planning to the post-operative care. During the procedure, the urologist provides ultrasound guidance and the radiation oncologist places the radioactive seeds.

      The procedure is performed as follows:

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    3. After general or spinal anesthesia, the legs are elevated and padded very carefully.
      The ultrasound probe is inserted into the rectum and is used to take pictures of the prostate. The probe remains in place throughout the procedure.
      The radioactive seeds are loaded into the designated number of needles.
      In a specific order, each needle is inserted through the skin in the perineum (the area between the base of the scrotum and the anus) and into the prostate using continuous ultrasound guidance. Once accurate needle placement is confirmed, the seeds in that needle are released. This process is continued until all of the radioactive seeds have been implanted. No surgical incision or cutting is necessary. For HDR, once the needle or catheter placements are confirmed, they are filled with a radioactive material. After a period of minutes both the needles and the radioactive material are removed.
      The urologist inserts a tube with a camera called a cystoscope through the penis and into the bladder. If he or she detects any loose radioactive seeds within the urethra or bladder, they are removed.
      If some blood is in the urine, the urologist may place a catheter into the bladder for a short period of time to ensure proper drainage. All patients are instructed how to drain urine from the bladder, if necessary.

      Delete
    4. Harriet McDonald on September 24, 2018 at 1:11 am

      Your comment is awaiting moderation. 

      Let me let u in on a little secret, about Utah. On it’s culture. It’s leaders.

      Utah is a passive-aggressive culture that thrives on ignorance, graft, and greed. That is why most of it is a radioactive and chemical weapon test, wasteland.

      The leaders only care about money. Salt lake has the dirtiest air, in the world. One of the highest cancer rates and highest birth-defect, heritable disease rates in the country.

      There are at least 3 nuclear waste dumps around Salt Lake City. By ooele is the one u mentioned. By roy is another. Skull valley another.

      There is a huge biological and chemical weapon storage facility by salt lake. That is the most populous area of the state! The people there are sheep. They do not give a shit as long as their greedy leaders tell them it brings in money and jobs!

      Half of utah in the south are downwinders w the worst uranium contamination in the world! The dummys have the best opportunities for wind and solar in the universe! Most of the small towns are isolated . Many of the small outlying towns, had mini power damns for municipal power 80 years ago. Many navajo towns are solar as well as natural bridges national monument.

      The corrupt leaders in utah want to hook into an expensive nuclear power plant project in idaho for towns that will mean runnin billion dollar power lines across the most ruthless terrain in the world except,
      maybe the himalayas. The leaders there are some of the most coniving, ignorant, brain-warped, and pathologically-braindead psychopaths on the planet!

      They wanna finance a big nuclear reactor, project by utah, after so many have died in southern utah from cancer etc. From the 1000 nuk bombs exploded in nevada and the uranium crap.

      Most people in utah are pretty stupid. They will let the nuclear waste company in Tooele regulate itself and poison the shit of peopke in salt lake. There will be more nuclear waste hauling trucks catching fire in utah by salt lake

      Delete
  2. Technology by extending our lives exposes us to more jeopardy. 'In the midst of life we are in death". Every attempt to become safer via science and technology opens a new avenue for danger. A comic law? We each get only so much good whether we take it in a short span of time or a longer one. The universe is like Las Vegas. Life is a game. Postmodernism was an attempt to escape the game of modernism. Each game is exciting till one realizes one is still losing . . . or at least not making any real head way. Every attempt to improve gov leads to new pitfalls. Socrates remarked that philosophy was a meditation on death. Smart man. He also remarked that he knew nothing. Wise man. 'If you try to get out of the mind by using the mind you will strive and strive in vain; a lie can not give you the truth.'

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