China Attacks US Companies
China has been busy. Several cyber attacks against US companies have been found to originate from the same source in China. The attacks have been attempts to steal proprietary information from US companies particularly in the aerospace technology sector and the renewable energy sector. It is difficult for China to claim that the attacks were not state sponsored. After all, they have such tight internet controls on there citizens, it is unlikely the average Chinese citizen would be able to access an old rerun of “Leave it to Beaver” on youtube.
China Attacks US News Organizations
The Wall Street Journal and The New York times have both been hacked from location in China. The hacks seem to be aimed at monitoring the news organizations reporting on China. I suppose they didn’t want to pay the premium subscription price to just read them on line. Chinese officials denied the allegations. Of course the American government has reaped great rewards in the way of brainwashing the American Public by having the mainstream media outlets in their hip pockets. Perhaps China just wants in on a little of that action.
Prepping for Cyber Attacks
While these attacks are not what we would consider life threatening, they are a progression in hostilities between our two countries. They also highlight a trend toward cyber warfare which always has some element of plausible deniability attached to the attacks. While everyone knows who did it, the web makes it difficult to produce the smoking gun. This allows countries that may have some concern about their reputation in the global community to do things they might normally abstain from.
All of these thing remind us how vulnerable we are to the malicious wills of our enemies. And enemies we have in abundance. We are reminded how easily our financial systems could be wiped out by a cyber attack. We recall that our power grid is also susceptible to an internet invasion. Loss of power means instant chaos in our gadget dependent society.
The threat of a major cyber attack against our infrastructure is the source of many sleepless nights for those in the intelligence community. While we should not stay awake at night, we should be prepared. Preparing for a cyber attack is much like preparing for any other crisis where we would have to survive without systems of support. While the threats may change, the solutions all have the same common threads.
Make sure you have a means of purifying water. Stock up on storable food. Keep some cash outside of the bank in a safe or well hidden place that you can access quickly. Be sure you have the means to defend your life, family and property. Keep a well stocked first aid kit. Keep a few items on hand that can be used to barter for things you may need if there were no stores for a while. this is an oversimplified list, but read our 7 Step Survival Plan to get completely prepared.
Happy Prepping!
