Four Threats For '09 You Haven't Heard of

ancientribe writes "Security experts are cautiously on the lookout for some lesser-known but potentially lethal threats that could be more difficult to prepare for and defend against in 2009. These aren't your typical enterprise hack attacks. They're mainly large-scale Internet threats — attacks that knock out sections of the Internet infrastructure, radical extremist hackers, Web attacks that adversely affect online ad revenue, and even the unthinkable: human casualties as a result of a cyberattack." Also known as the new group of things the fear mongers will use to make you do their bidding.

Comments

Re:"The Unthinkable"

[betterunixthanunix]

People often forget that many real world, physical system have internet connections, and therefore many people cannot even fathom the idea of a cyberattack resulting in human death. I read about a hack a few years ago that nearly resulting in a man being shot and killed by a SWAT team: somebody had spoofed the phone system and issued a call to 911 indicating that he was holding a family hostage, and the SWAT team arrived and very nearly shot the father in that house. The kid who executed the hack never even considered the possibility that a SWAT team with automatic weapons might actually fire their guns during the confusion (or so he said when he was arrested by the FBI). TFA indicates that a malware attack hit a UK hospital and shut down the computer systems, forcing doctors and nurses to search for paper records.