Cyber Security expert Eugene Kaspersky is making some dire predictions of what the future has in store, and it’s not very pretty. Kaspersky, co-founder of the Kaspersky Lab, is warning of an emerging cyber threat that in his words — could spell “the end of the world as we know it”.
Earlier this month his Cyber Security lab discovered the now infamous Flame Cyber Weapon. The Weapon, as he told Russia Today, is “the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet unleashed.” Flame, the largest and most complex type of cyber attack ever discovered, has a unique way of stealing information and spying on the infected user.
Flame can literally turn the infected computer into a sophisticated spying device by recording key strokes, recording audio and video through any attached audio or visual devices, and can even turn Bluetooth-enabled computers into beacons to download information from other Bluetooth enabled devices. While Flame may be the most sophisticated cyber weapon yet discovered, it’s not the only thing that has Kaspersky concerned.
Cyber TEOTWAWKI
In a speech at the Tel Aviv University cyber security conference, Kaspersky warned:
“It’s not cyber war, it’s cyber terrorism, and I’m afraid the game is just beginning. Very soon, many countries around the world will know it beyond a shadow of a doubt,”
“I’m afraid it will be the end of the world as we know it,” he warned. “I’m scared, believe me.”
Internet blackouts are really just the tip of the iceberg. While losing the internet might be devastating to some, and would certainly set us back a number of years, it’s actually the least destructive scenario that we’re facing. On top of an attack that would likely shut down the internet, a number of the top cyber experts in the world are warning that attacks on our infrastructure might be just around the corner.
The scary part about this escalation in government sponsored cyber warfare, is once the cat gets out of the bag it’s really hard to put it back it. Once these attacks are launched, they can be very difficult to control. The very nature of these indiscriminate cyber weapons makes them extremely dangerous to not only the intended target but the rest of the world as well.
A computer really has no concept of national borders. Once these threats start replicating, they will quickly cross these invisible border lines and take out important infrastructure throughout the world.
The threat is real, and the threat has the ability to literally set the world back 200 years in a matter of days.
Damon Petraglia, a Cyber-Terrorism expert and member of US Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, shared his thought with us awhile back on what he thinks may happen:
I believe eventually it will be an agricultural terrorism attack coupled with a cyber–attack. The cyber-attack would target assets of critical infrastructure such as an oil pipe line, railway transport and freight, and perhaps a water supply. These attacks would not have to be particularly extreme, only enough to cause panic and divert resources to those attacks.
While the cyber-attack is being dealt with, coordinated attacks on agriculture at strategic locations throughout the USA would completely devastate us and much of the world. Mad cow disease turns up on two farms on the west coast, a fungus destroys a few unrelated wheat crops in the central US, med fly infestation at a few farms in the south. One must understand that agricultural disease and agents can be stockpiled easily, do not have to be weaponized, and can be administered as simple as touching an animal or walking through a field.
The economic toll would be devastating and the amount of food that would need to be destroyed would be unfathomable. It would cause economic ruin, panic, civil unrest, and a lack of faith in government as the government would be hindered in coordinating efforts at a federal or global level without a strong and intact infrastructure.
Everything in this country and throughout the world is now dependent on the internet and our vulnerable infrastructure. Banks, the electrical grid, communications system and even the way our food is delivered to the store could all be affected. If the grid goes down, most of the world has little knowledge of how to live without it.
The truth is, if an attack happens any time soon, this country is not prepared to handle the consequences. In fact, if terrorists or any rogue nation were to attack, the consequences would probably be far more serious than any other type of terrorist attack could ever be.
Three things you can do to prepare for this threat:
Part of truly being prepared for anything, means knowing exactly how this type of threat will affect your long-term preparedness efforts. By performing a realistic threat assessment, you can get a better idea of how this threat will affect you and what you can do to prepare for the situation.
When the power lines go down, the internet blackout starts and the grid crashes; there is one line of emergency communication that will still be alive and well – HAM RADIO. A good survival plan must include some type of emergency communications equipment. The ability to send and receive information, after the grid goes down, is vital to being able to survive that situation.
3. Stock up on the Basic Survival Necessities
Think about what things you need to survive, and start to stock up on those items now. Water, Food, Shelter and Protection should all be at the top of the list. In my opinion water, food, shelter and protection are the most important things that you can stock up on. If you can cover those four categories then you will be far better off than 99% of the country.
While an attack would devistate the worlds infrastructure. A prepared local community can be very self sufficient.
90% of the globe will die in a scenario like this. Consider this..anyone on the grid depends on electronic communication for everything from water to lighting to heat to even doors opening. Fact is there would not be a way to harvest what we have, see what money we actually, even handle medical procedures.
Basically within 6 months all the bad parts of the Christian bible would happen…..
@Littlelady007…Regarding the comment about not being able to harvest…I have a background in farming (just a simple farm boy) and I can tell you the internet going down won’t necessarily stop the crops from getting harvested. BUT, if the ability to get fuel to run the harvesters, the trucks that haul the crops and shutdown’s of related processing facilities (elevators and ports) and we might actually have a problem…While the internet shutting down would be devestating and could cause large losses of life in the urban centers of the U.S. there is still a good number of country folk that can hunt, fish and raise crops for themselves. Haven’t you heard, “A country boy can survive”…Especially a country boy with tactical training and a plan!
I agree.., but this city boy has been hunting since he was 13.
We venture outside the city don’tcha know’ : )
I suggest reading Cody Lundins book “98.6 degrees” or “When all Hell braks loose…” Good reading…
Great way to pick up some basics that cover everything we’re talking about here.
Bug out bag constantly updated.., plans for EVAC if ever have to.., but most importantly, be self reliant.
I’m in my late 40’s.., I guess those of us who grew up before computers, remote controls, video games, etc.., won’t much trouble at all!
Tactical training completed for me as well!
; )
The thing that concerns my husband and I the most is that we are a one-income blue-collar homeschooling family. We don’t have the money to buy any property to “bug-out” to. As much as we would love to move out of suburbia, we just don’t foresee any way of affording it and it scares me to think of the possibilities of suburban living so near a big city. It really does. :-(
get a job!!! send your kids to school so they can learn to deal with other people and social things etc. … i hate homeschoolers its retarded. go get a damn job!!!
Maybe Lisa wants her children to grow up with some manners (unlike yourself)
First off – bmcb82: You’re clearly an uneducated prick, so I won’t waste my time addressing your ignorant comment beyond telling you to shut up and leave the advice giving to people who really give a damn.
With that said, Lisa, don’t be scared, my wife and I are on a tight budget as well so I know what it feels like, but the key to success in a survival situation is the ability to think outside the box and find alternative solutions to overcome problems. There are a lot of properties floating around for under $1500 an acre (43560 sq ft) that are off grid. You just have to shop around. Sometimes country farmers are willing to part with an acre or two as well. After you save up enough to buy the land there are numerous options for building an inexpensive, durable, sustainable fall back house. My favorite option is something called an ‘Earthbag Structure’ which has the benefit of being literally dirt cheap to build, well insulated, bulletproof, bomb resistant, earthquake resistant, tornado resistant, and customizable to your families specific needs. My advice to you is to not panick about the task of survival, but to formulate your plan with your husband, take it one step at a time, and prepare what you can, when you can.
Hope this helps. Oh, and you’re a kick ass mom for taking the time and effort and immeasurable patience to give your kids a superior education. Wish my mom had homeschooled me. Keep up the good work!
– Matt
I have posted this question else where on this site but I haven’t gotten a response yet. If the grid goes I was led to believe that it would be ten to 15 days until all the water in the reactor of nuke plants will be gone and the rods become exposed to the air and burn whatever structure containing them down causing every plant in the us to go Fukushima. Where do you bug out to if the whole place is glowing
Most nuclear power plants have an emergency shut down procedure that would kick in. As long as the emergency backup systems weren’t damaged, like what happened in Japan, most of these plants should be good for awhile.
Basically I prep for what I know I can control, the rest I don’t worry about. The way i see it is, if the worst case scenario happens there is only one way to prep for that.
The “emergency backup systems” are diesel generators. When they run out of fuel there will be no cooling water running which will become a problem in a very short period of time.
I have wondered the same thing as well. To be honest I think if that occurs the bug out process will be automatic (might be slow, but automatic nonetheless) to your denomination’s afterlife destination. Unless you have money for one of those super fancy underground radiation shelters with all the bells and whistles located far away from a radiation source with a thousand years of food and water I think we would all be pretty much screwed.
Joe is correct. Each plant is required by law to have 2 weeks worth of diesel onsite to fuel backup generators that are specifically used to power the emergency shutdown systems. Now EMP/CME, that’s a different story if the back system is damaged. Then I’m making a bee-line away from it.
Thanks to all that is what concerned me with all the plants going where would you go but if there is a procedure in place to contain the material then really youre plan should just include getting by them in two weeks or avoiding a 50 mile perimeter after they have been contained, cuz lets be honest even if it’s buried in concrete who would want to risk it
take it from somebody that actually works in the nuclear field and power plants. all of the United States nuclear facilities have power backups just like Arkaden said. Now with the recycling centers, most nuclear plants don’t have alot of waste in them at any given time so radiation can be contained. now the rest of the world is what you’ll have to worry about. See all USA facilities are up to date and made to withstand casastrophic events (tornadoes, hurricanes,power failuers, etc) but the rest of the world, like japan most recent case is not up to date like we are. thats why they had the radiation leaks n such.
Dana do these redundant backup systems have offline/manual control processes that would prevent the effects of an infrastructure attack such as something along the lines of a stuxnet style virus meant to attack power generation systems?
I thought that was the point of the Internet it was nuclear holocaust proof. It survives by people who simply connect to one massive server
The Internet by design is a distributed network, being a system of computers liked, cross-linked, etc. take a look at any Who Is designation of any web address, be it a domain name or Internet Protocol (IP) address, and you will find, usually, at least two domain name servers (DNS) behind it. These DNAs servers convert “named” website addresses, like http://www.cnn.com, for example, into numeric addresses, in the format of 001.022.034.256. These numbers function as a roadmap, directing the client computer to a specific server somewhere in the ether. That is the nature of a decentralized network such as the Internet is, and it is that attribute that, theoretically, gives it “bomb-proof” resilience. Where one server might fail, perhaps another will survive, and the network will recover quickly. Around the world are at least seven, perhaps fourteen seriously impenetrable root domain name servers. These are heavily guarded and shielded, sometimes secret locations, often national secrets with national and international security implications. If one of these servers goes down, we can recover from it; if several go down, we may have a problem; if more than half of them fail, then we have a seriously serious problem on our hands.