# Is the internet safe from terrorists?



## Homesteader (Jul 13, 2002)

You know, I'm always amazed at how many here are computer literate!

I am not, and I imagine most people really don't know a whole lot more than what buttons to push to make their computer work.

I keep seeing bits and bobs of cyber attacks, like, Anonymous has "declared", what?, war? I guess on ISIS, or maybe it was Al-Quaeda. Just now I see someone hacked a Twitter account of Central Command.

Anyway, because I don't really understand how the internet actually works, I have some questions regarding terrorist attacks/hacks.

Can the entire US be "brought down", (the internet I mean) at once?

Could they "hack" (and I don't even know if that is the right word) the entire electrical grid system, or the entire water systems of a large city, or an entire airport, etc.?

If they could, what would be done to "fix it" and how long would that take?


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

The internet is made up of millions of computers/servers all over the world, all connected. If you lose your connection you lose your internet. There are low level connections and high level connections. 

High level connections going down, will shutdown the internet for cities, countries or regions, so yes it's possible to bring the internet down. The info (web sites) would still be there but with no way to access them. Fix the connection and they'd be back in business - how long? depends on what happened to the connections. a few hours, days or even years/decades if bad enough. It would need to be catastrophic to take years.


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_LPdttKXPc"]How the internet works[/ame] (youtube video )


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

More on high level (tier 1) connections;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_backbone#Tier_1_providers


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## Homesteader (Jul 13, 2002)

mnn2501 - thank you for that. I learned, well, everything! Didn't really know any of that. Will check the other link now.......thanks again!


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

Ok, I have been schooled. And I must add that my concerns have not be assuaged LOL.

I am fairly certain that anything the good guys can think of the bad guys can think of at least as much. Being a criminal is does not make one unable to learn.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

Homesteader said:


> Could they "hack" (and I don't even know if that is the right word) the entire electrical grid system, or the entire water systems of a large city, or an entire airport, etc.?


Could they hack the electrical grid? Yes, theoretically its all connected: there are 3 electrical grids (made up of smaller grids). 

The Northeastern grid went down in 1965 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_1965
Affected 30 million people for 13 hours because of an improperly set relay at one point causing a cascading failure. I imagine the same could be done today via computer (BUT I am not a expert in this area)



> Americaâs electric grid is actually comprised of three smaller grids, called interconnections, that move electricity around the country. The Eastern Interconnection operates in states east of the Rocky Mountains, The Western Interconnection covers the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountain states, and the smallest -- the Texas Interconnected system -- covers most of Texas.


Its really no longer a question of 'If' it could happen, but rather a question of 'When' and 'How Bad'?

I'm really not a doomsayer: I love electric lights and the internet and pray they stay on, but I prep in case they don't.


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## Homesteader1 (Oct 19, 2011)

Yes it's possible. Today about anything is possible. One great reason to own a homestead. I've had my sites hacked before, but only for them to get links into my site and add a bunch of code. I have my homestead blog along with my business I run from home. It's a great idea to have everything backed up just in case things like that happen
You can check out my blog *HERE* ever sense the world wide web came about you see more problems. But in short things can be hacked.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

There's a lot of speculation about how exposed we are and how bad an attack might be. There are people who concern themselves with that pretty much all the time. They meet once a year here in Las Vegas during August.

https://www.defcon.org/

If nothing else, they're a ton of fun to hang out with. I used to attend regularly, but at $220 registration I'll watch the sessions I'm interested in on youtube later.

Hint: Turn your cell phone off before walking into the Rio during the meeting. If you don't they'll have free run of your phone. I kid you not!


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

In 1989 the same top .03% of the internet that we of the general public have ready access to was described to me as a cyber version of the pit at a rock concert hosted in a residential neighborhood of single family homes with no doors or windows on them as we stored our cyber stuff on the hard drives of our PCs but copies were also able to be made by anyone our cyber connection passed through .

A quarter of a century later we are still using that .03% tip of the internet but with an exponentially greater population and most no longer store their cyber stuff on their PC or device memory storage, using clid storage on the server ends instead.

Techie newscasters in the same segment will talk of how cool and valuable the net is and in the next story warn of financial risks, stranger danger etc. 

As far as the safety of the various infrastructures that utilize net connections, its debatable of how vulnerable it is , when a major attack will occur and how bad it will be but there is agreement that it is a foreseeable reality that will occur just nobody knows when.

An installment of Nova recently estimated there are at least a few hundred attacks on the net daily but for the average amusement and news reading type user most antivirals are adequate.

The same Nova program also warned that the controller virus that attacked the Middle East nation a couple years back has turned up in the "internet wild " globally and could potentially affect any infrastructure anywhere in the world again someday.

According to some articles , the first recorded computer virus from the 1980s is still in the internet wild also and just as in real life measles, polio or such occasionally resurface, the Melissa cyber bug might resurface as antivirals may not include protection from it.

The internet will never be totally safe. All users can do is to try to safely navigate the .03% of the net we have ready access to.


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## Awnry Abe (Mar 21, 2012)

Yes, very vulnerable. Just like walking down a street. But you should be more aware and vigilant for what may be proposed as solutions to the problem. Think "TSA screening every time you hop in the shower".


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