Hackers, electrical grids, hysteria, and whitehat FAIL

11/21/2009 | 12:42 AM | Evolved Rationalist

Okay, folks. I've finally sat down and watched the entire '60 Minutes' segment on ~~OMG HAXORS CAN PWN ELECTRICAL GRIDS AND FUCK THE SHIT OUT OF A WHOLE COUNTRY BUT SOMEHOW THEY HAVEN'T DONE SO, HURR DURR~~ "Cyber War".

A few thoughts:

Why do people still think that critical system control loops should be exposed to the internet, and then whine about "hackers"?
WHY ARE CRITICAL CONTROL LOOPS EXPOSED TO THE INTERNET?!! ARGH! ARGHHHHH!
If such a thing were feasible at this point and is actually as easy as claimed in that segment, someone, some organization, some country out there...or even E/b/aums...would have done it by now, don't you think?
I'm not denying that such threats are real, and that things should be done to improve security. However, such threats are often hyped up by certain parties who seek to impose draconian restrictions on the internet.
The Brazilian blackout was caused by soot, not hackers.

Before any of you start snickering, pointing, and laughing at the FAIL, I would like to direct you to the actual FAIL - which shockingly is not the segment itself - but this analysis by Nick Selby. His whole premise is that it doesn't matter - as far as the public is concerned - if the blackout was caused by soot or by hackers, as long as people get the message that security is ~~srs biznes~~ important.

Folks, he thinks that journalistic accuracy and basic fact-checking isn't all that important after all. On top of that, his shilling for security awareness without, well, awareness sets off my cynical alarms over the fact that whitehats stand to profit if people are more security conscious (security consciousness is a good thing!), but hell - why would a whitehat care what exactly it was that set off the ~~hysteria~~ security consciousness of the general public in the first place?! Why care? Why care as long as the public is semi-aware, ie. aware enough to pay for 'security', or the illusion thereof?

Of course, Nick Selby is way smarter and educated than lowly me, but lowly me is of the opinion that the public should know the truth. Not only because if the average person realized that soot, and not OMG EVIL HAXORS was the cause of the blackout, (s)he wouldn't have a nice ready-made reason to call for the blood of 'hackers'. Said person would also be more likely to think twice before (s)he is led like sheep to support the locking-down of the internet due to hysterical propaganda over 'evil hackers attacking our electrical grids!"

What Selby is advocating - basically, awareness without awareness - would sell more whitehat security products, but as far as truth is concerned, and as far as educating the general public is concerned, I have this little demotivational: