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Could Cyber-Terrorists Provoke Nuclear Attacks?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the telling-woprs dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "The Guardian reports that according to a study commissioned by the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), a joint initiative of the Australian and Japanese Governments, terrorists could use information warfare techniques to make a nuclear attack more likely — triggering a catastrophic chain of events that may be an easier alternative 'than building or acquiring a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb themselves.' While the possibility of a radical group gaining access to actual launch systems is remote, the study suggests that terrorists could focus on feeding in false information further down the chain — or spreading fake information to officials in a carefully orchestrated strike. According to the study 'Hacking Nuclear Command and Control' [PDF], cyber-terrorists could 'provoke a nuclear launch by spoofing early warning and identification systems or by degrading communications networks.' Since command and control systems are placed at a higher degree of exploitation due to the need for rapid decisions under high pressure with limited intelligence, cyber-terrorists 'would not need deception that could stand up over time; they would only need to be believable in the first 15 minutes or so.'"

4 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. Those terrorists... by koolfy · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... are trying to impurify all of our precious bodily fluids !

    Bastards !

    yeah, that's my way of showing why I disagree with nuclear strikes, without repeating the same message that Kubrick's movie told us long time ago
    I assume my point here is pretty obvious (if you have seen the movie, of course.)

    --
    Segmentation Fault in "Life, Universe and Everything" at line 42. Don't Panic.
  2. Re:Discussed This Report Four Days Ago by palindrome · · Score: 3, Funny

    It wasn't a spelling flame, I simply doubted the validity of the word accurate. But kudos and my sincere apologeese.

  3. The problem with the Human Factor by dov_0 · · Score: 2, Funny

    You can fool some of the people some of the time, or all of the people all of the time. Unfortunately it seems that could be all that's needed...

    --
    sudo mount --milk --sugar /cup/tea /mouth /etc/init.d/relax start
  4. YES, YES THEY COULD !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    We are DOOMED !! DOOMED I tells ya !!

    I have my bags packed and my hill runing shoes on !!

    I'm GO !!