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The real threat to global critical infrastructure is not enemy states or organisations but squirrels.
Cris Thomas has been tracking power cuts caused by animals since 2013.
Squirrels, birds, rats and snakes have been responsible for more than 1,700 power cuts affecting nearly 5 million people, he told a security conference.
He explained that by tracking these issues, he was seeking to dispel the hype around cyber-attacks.
His Cyber Squirrel 1 project was set up to counteract what he called the "ludicrousness of cyber-war claims by people at high levels in government and industry", he told the audience at the Shmoocon security conference in Washington.
Squirrels topped the list with 879 "attacks", followed by:
- birds - 434
- snakes - 83
- raccoons - 72
- rats - 36
- martens - 22
- frogs - three
He concludes that the damage done by real cyber-attacks - Stuxnet's destruction of Iranian uranium enrichment centrifuges and disruption to Ukrainian power plants being the most high profile - was tiny compared to the "cyber-threat" posed by animals.
Also at Arstechnica
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday January 20 2017, @09:21AM
Damn. Is there anything the Russians won't do in order to harm America?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday January 20 2017, @10:39AM
In 1943, the Americans prepared their dogs to do battle in almost the same way as the Russians were doing:
In 1943, U.S. forces considered using armed dogs against fortifications. The aim was for a dog to run into a bunker carrying a bomb, which would then be detonated by a timer. Dogs in this secret program were trained at Fort Belvoir. The dogs, called "demolition wolves", were taught to run to a bunker, enter it, and sit whilst waiting for a simulated explosion. Each dog carried a bomb strapped to its body in canvas pouches, as with the Russian method.
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog [wikipedia.org]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @10:41AM
Why not use suicide niggers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @10:45AM
"Damn. Is there anything the Russians won't do in order to harm America?"
Russians? While they have a history of training animals for use in combat [wikipedia.org], those schemes tend to backfire [soviet-empire.com]* in spectacular ways. Therefore, I suggest that it's the US military that trained them for use against Russian infrastructure, and the scheme also backfired.
* I don't know what that website is, but the content is so sparse that I have to assume it's some kind of honeypot and now I'm on a few more watchlists :D
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday January 20 2017, @12:28PM
Wait, I thought it was the muslims. Did we switch bogeymen, again? Damn, gotta keep up.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @12:39PM
{Russians} ∪ {Muslims} ≠ {}
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday January 20 2017, @03:12PM
We have always been at war with Eastasia.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday January 20 2017, @08:52PM
I'm smashing my Eurasia banners as we speak. See you next hateweek.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 20 2017, @04:56PM
Muslim Suicide Squirrels. I've got a few of them watching me from the trees right now. They think that I'm a religious nut.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday January 20 2017, @09:10PM
Notice how bears and wolves are conspicuously missing from the list. He's been paid off! Also missing are beavers and geese [reddit.com]. It would seem the full extent of the conspiracy is finally being revealed.
(Score: 2) by dry on Saturday January 21 2017, @02:53AM
Well the last one that made the news here was a Bald Eagle, so obviously it's an American plot.