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North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: Internet vulnerabilities
Jason Lewis wrote: > ... Is there a possibility that intelligent terrorists exist? I'd take that as a given. Planning, security and execution of the Sept. 11 attack were all done competently. These guys are certainly fanatics and arguably crazy, but they are neither stupid nor incompetent. Osama's a university graduate. I taught English at the same U (King Abdul Aziz in Jeddah) a few years after he left. It wasn't at the level of MIT or Cambridge, but it wasn't dreadful either. > Or even people that have the knowledge and sympathize with them? Most of my best students were Palestinian scholarship winners. This was early 80s. Most of those kids had grown up in refugee camps where their parents had been since the 50s. Care to guess where their sympathies were? > OBL used a satellite phone, they found laptops in Afghanistan, > there is evidence they are using the web to transmit information > to each other. I think someone out there has a clue about > computers. In assessing threats, the rule I'd use as a first approximation is that they have, or can easily get, any skill you can expect from a bachelor's degree or tech college grad in any field. If they need a water systems engineer, an embedded computers guy and a biochemist to pull off a particular attack, assume that they're almost certain to have at least one of each. The question of whether they have the skills is only interesting for more esoteric attacks, where they may not have exactly the specialist they need. > Crippling the entire net may be impossible, but it sure sounds like a well > planned out series of attacks could do some serious damage. Various worms have done moderately serious damage. My guess would be that a well-planned and executed attack could take the net down for a few days.
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