Found this link on Doc’s website. Bruce Schneier thinks the Blaster virus caused the Great Blackout of 2003. He makes a convincing case, too, reading between the lines of the offical report. Something caused all of First Energy Ohio’s monitoring computers to simultaneously freeze. Sound like a virus to you?
This could also be the fuel for the recent road show that Tom “Mr. Homeland Security” Ridge and his trusty sidekick..er, deputy, Robert Liscouski, have been taking to techies. Their blunt message to tech companies is the proverbial offer-you-can’t-refuse: clean up your code or face potential regulation.
“There should be no mistake about where we stand,” Liscouski said during a press conference at the summit. “We are not going to let anybody who operates in this space dodge their responsibility, and I will be sticking my finger into people’s chests to make sure they live up to their responsibilities.”
I was a bit mystified by this statement when the story broke last week. Why the hell does Homeland Security care about viruses? Surely no fool would run mission-critical systems on flawed operating systems? Yet, if that is in fact what happened, you could expect this exact reaction. That is: don’t dare let on that a stupid computer virus took out a huge chunk of the North American power grid, but discreetly go after the perpetrators once the lights are back on. If YOUR computer caught a virus that crashed an entire power grid, would YOU ‘fess up? I thought so!
This is not without precedent, of course. The same power company had its network completely o\/\/n3d earlier this summer by the Slammer worm. And here I was, thinking guys like Homer Simpson only worked at nuke plants in the CARTOONS! Morons.
(I’ll refrain from pointing out that there are other choices for clean, stable operating systems because that should obvious.)
If you read the article I suggested in the new Vanity Fair it covers all of this. Matt
Thanks for the tip, Matt. I’ll grab a copy of that mag today!
Surely no fool would run mission-critical systems on flawed operating systems?
Tell that to the Navy. They tried to test a frigate running Windows and ended up having to tow the ship back to port. If they’re serious about using that o.s. on board, it’s gonna give a whole new meaning to the “blue screen of death”….
True, that was a well-publicized incident. I think it turned some heads in the leadership, though, and made them reconsider the open choices out there.
Sadly, there are sooooo many lobbyists out there greasing the palms of those decision-makers and forcing these bad decisions on the fleet. Open source lacks this kind of influence (for better or worse) and thus may get shut out of the game. With any luck, the needs of the Navy will triumph over the lobbyists.
Maybe I’m naive but shouldn’t there be a manual backup system in case the system fails? It seems obvious but I guess that’s the Navy, huh?