Could Cyber-Terrorists Provoke Nuclear Attacks?

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.'"

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Words of Wisdom

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Fool me once...shame on me. Fool me twice...you can't get fooled again. -- George W Bush

Maybe this is what he was talking about. If you trick a trigger happy world leader bent on imposing his world view on everyone into pushing the red button to rid the world of some foreign threat...well...you can't get fooled again because you will all be radioactive waste.

Now...I certainly can't imagine a group of people that would be easily tricked into launching a preemptive nuclear strike...well except for Republicans. I guess it is a good thing that ol George's request for nukes that could be used in "tactical" situations didn't go anywhere.