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Submitted via IRC for SoyCow3196
A cyberattack could wreak destruction comparable to a nuclear weapon
People around the world may be worried about nuclear tensions rising, but I think they're missing the fact that a major cyberattack could be just as damaging—and hackers are already laying the groundwork.
With the U.S. and Russia pulling out of a key nuclear weapons pact—and beginning to develop new nuclear weapons—plus Iran tensions and North Korea again test-launching missiles, the global threat to civilization is high. Some fear a new nuclear arms race.
That threat is serious—but another could be as serious, and is less visible to the public. So far, most of the well-known hacking incidents, even those with foreign government backing, have done little more than steal data. Unfortunately, there are signs that hackers have placed malicious software inside U.S. power and water systems, where it's lying in wait, ready to be triggered. The U.S. military has also reportedly penetrated the computers that control Russian electrical systems.
As someone who studies cybersecurity and information warfare, I'm concerned that a cyberattack with widespread impact, an intrusion in one area that spreads to others or a combination of lots of smaller attacks, could cause significant damage, including mass injury and death rivaling the death toll of a nuclear weapon.
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Wednesday August 21 2019, @03:03PM (4 children)
I think if you confronted the author with the same choice, they'd agree with you. The two attacks are not comparable. There's a very wide range of scenarios for either type of attack, but having a chance to get out of harm's way is a big, big difference.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday August 21 2019, @03:30PM (2 children)
"Comparable" presumably means "can be compared", i.e., we can tell whether one is less than, equal, or greater then the other.
If they are really close to one another, we may be unable to distinguish these three cases, so presumably they're not comparable.
It they are really different, it is clear which one is greater, and thus comparable.
So if a major, continent-wide cyber-attack is as nothing compared to a nuclear attack, I'd say they are comparable.
:-)
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Wednesday August 21 2019, @05:06PM (1 child)
"Comparable" can also mean of roughly equivalent magnitude which I think is the meaning intended in the submission.
As you suggest, I mean in the sense of "can be compared", because one can envision so many different scenarios. For example, in the case of nuclear are we talking about a Bomb in a Suitcase or a full scale state sponsored attack?
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday August 22 2019, @10:44AM
Just pointing out the perversity of language drift. And how mathematicians often use the same words in entirely different meanings from the rest of us. In this case, terminology used for partial orders.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Hartree on Wednesday August 21 2019, @05:34PM
This is one of those where the details of the scenarios matter an awful lot. You can envision a tactical nuke attack on a nearly uninhabited island versus a computer worm that causes a last ditch attempt to divert a planet killer asteroid to fail. Or you can unleash 3 or more way Mutually Assured Destruction via all out exchanges with associated nuclear winter versus a worm that shuts down a single city water supply.
As a general case though, I'd prefer a rogue hacker with a computer than say, a rogue militant group with a nuke.