Big Sis. Warns of Cyber 9/11- Anonymous Attacks Gov. Site
Big Sister Warns of Cyber 9/11
Last week, Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano warned that a cyber 9/11 attack on America could occur “imminently”. She mentioned that critical infrastructure was particularly vulnerable. She warned that the effects could be similar to Super Storm Sandy and could take out water, electric and gas utilities. In addition to infrastructure, the banking system is also at risk. Banks are attacked regularly. Most attacks are thwarted, but when hackers get through, the damage is massive. It is inevitable that a large scale attack will eventually affect the accounts of huge numbers of depositors.
Anonymous Launches Cyber Attack on Government Site
Last Friday, the hacktavist organization Anonymous infiltrated the US Sentencing Commission website. The cyber attack was in response to the suicide of Arron Swartz, an internet activist who committed suicide due to threats of prosecution from the federal government. Arron Swartz was the co-creator of the website Reddit.co which posted court documents that were obtained without permission.
Anonymous’ attack gave out encryption information that allowed other hackers to edit sentencing guidelines. At the time of this writing, the website for the US Sentencing Commission, USSC.gov was completely down. Anonymous has also threatened further action if Constitutional guidelines for the role of government are not more closely adhered to than they have been in the past. Below is the youtube video that was published by Anonymous with their list of complaints and intended actions. Last year, Anonymous made threats to cripple the banking system. Those threats were either hollow or were thwarted by bank cyber security or government intervention.
Anonymous Seeks Revenge for Suicide of Fellow Hacker-Video Click Here!
Whether Anonymous is capable of doing more than crippling the the USSC website is unknown. The point is that there are people out there with incredible computer hacking skills. They are always testing the fence to find weak spots. As The Secretary of Homeland Security just told us, there is no shortage of weaknesses in that fence.
Get Prepared
Preppers should always be prepared to endure a cyber attack. This means always keeping at least one months worth of expenses, in cash, in your home. A safe that is bolted to the floor is the best place to keep cash. Otherwise, find a secure hiding place and split it up. Even if one stash is discovered by a burglar, the rest will still be there. It doesn’t take a major cyber attack to lose access to the money in your account. A co-worker of mine has had two incidents in the last 2 years that accomplished that inconvenience. Two years ago, her debit card access information was compromised and her bank account was drained. The bank finally figured out what happened, but it took several months to straighten out. Last year, her mortgage company accidentally withdrew multiple payments of leaving her account drained again. Once again, the problem was solved, but after a long time and many headaches. This is just one person. There are millions of stories like these. The moral of this story is clear. Keep some cash on hand. If you don’t have one month of expenses saved up, it is time to slash your expenses and get on a very strict budget until you do. Do not go out to eat or make any other purchases that are not absolutely necessary until you have a cushion of at least 1 months expenses.
As Janet Napolitano mentioned, critical infrastructure is at risk. To prepare for this situation, do exactly what you would do to prepare for a hurricane. Food, water, batteries and a radio that is capable of picking up stations outside of the affected area are recommended. An AM radio will pick up stations further away than an FM radio, and a Short Wave radio will pick up station around the world. Remember, if there is no electricity, most store can’t do business. All of there registers operate only with electricity and they will throw everything away before they try to figure the tax on a calculator. We saw that in my area after Hurricane Wilma.
When considering how long to prepare for, remember that there are still areas affected by Super Storm Sandy that still have no power 3 months after the event. I understand that storage can be an issue, but do what you can. I think 6 months of food is a minimum. If you can’t do 6 months, do 3 months. If you can’t do 3 , do 1 month. 2 weeks of food is better than 3 days. Start small and work your way up. Do what you can when you can. You will be better prepared for everything from a short power outage to the end of the world as we know it.
Happy Prepping!
