Those who are familiar with Len Wiseman's 2007 film "Live Free or Die Hard" ("Die Hard 4.0") will recall the actor Bruce Willis taking on a gang of cyber terrorists intent on hacking FBI computers. At one point, the arch-villain Gabriel orders a crew of hackers to start a "fire sale" by taking control of the stock market and transportation grids. The attack is designed to target the nation's reliance on computer controls, sending the public into a panic and presenting us with an almost credible sci-fi plot. The reality of today's world shows that cyber-terrorism, if left unchecked, might be used not only by individuals or extremist groups, but by hostile governments on the offensive.
The Korean peninsula is now quickly turning into a place where a singular cyber-attack might spark a full-fledged conflict. Last month, North Korea was accused of actively jamming global positioning system (GPS) signals, targeting South Korea's two largest airports outside its capital city of Seoul. The jamming signals, which were first detected on April 28 and ended on May 6, were traced to the North Korean border city of Kaesong, just 10 km north of the DMZ. Suspicions fell on imported truck-based jamming systems from Russia, capable of jamming signals within 100 kilometres. Was it really North Korea who stood behind the GPS jamming incidents and, if so, what was the purpose?
http://38north.org/2012/07/lpetrov070912/
No comments:
Post a Comment