Distraction

I suspect 'that's it' on the probation front for a week or two, so maybe there's an opportunity for some further distraction? Of course distraction has long been a very useful tool to be deployed in nefarious activity of all kinds. Just as we can all begin to see light at the end of the Covid tunnel, many US federal agencies are only now waking up to the nightmare realisation that their computer networks were thoroughly infiltrated and compromised by Russian cyber attack in March this year. Whilst the world was united and looking one way, Russia saw an opportunity to sneak in via a back door unnoticed. 

At this point I feel the need to admit I haven't a clue as to how computers or the internet work, but ever since the millennium bug crisis, have known enough to realise we are sleep-walking into a nightmare of epic proportions that no batshit crazy conspiracy theory can do justice to. Honestly, what are we thinking by connecting everything? 

I'd like to think I'm a fairly level-headed sort of guy that can sort fact from fiction and take some pride in being able to spot real fake news from the pretend Trump stuff; sort the true lies from governments, their cover-ups, bullshit and such from the real truth, but I'm struggling to comprehend our collective and seeming inability to grasp the incredible danger that's inherent in constructing an ever-more interconnected world. We have absolutely no idea how it could malfunction as a result of unforeseen circumstances, let alone as a result of nefarious activity and yet we are happily installing 24/7 internet-connected microphones, door bells and cameras in our homes, not by compulsion or government expense, but enthusiastically at our own! 

There is a danger in this becoming a bit nerdy at this point, but for those that might be interested, and by way of illustrating the dangers of inter-connection, I'll mention electric supply grids and the difficulty of keeping them in constant balance with the inherent danger of cascading failure for a variety of reasons. Making any grid larger with ever-more intercontinental interconnects may bring greater efficiency and economy, but risks increase dramatically. Somewhat ironically, one of the biggest risks to an electric grid is a drop in demand and it could be catastrophic if that drop was sudden. 

I discovered this by accident when researching the smart meter omnishambles. These devices are of course all interconnected, regularly go 'dumb' but should any large number of them switch off in unison for any reason, the grid would suffer catastrophic failure. Interestingly, they have been designed with the ability to disconnect remotely and the government is actively reviewing how to use that ability in an emergency. But what if that ability were to be activated as a sophisticated 'hack' by a foreign state or terrorist group?

Anyway, that's probably enough for now and I will resist the temptation of straying into the fascinating world of 'rotational inertia' problems now faced by the grid, but a root around the Drax power station website proves highly enlightening regarding an unforeseen consequence of alternative power generation. It also provides a fascinating insight as to how to start a power station when the lights have gone out. 

This from the Guardian:-               

US scrambling to understand fallout of suspected Russia hack

At least six government departments breached in likely Russian intelligence operation thought to have begun in March

The US government is still in the dark over how deeply Russian hackers penetrated its networks during the worst ever cyber attack on federal agencies, members of Congress warned on Friday.

At least six government departments were breached in a likely Russian intelligence operation thought to have begun in March. Although there is no evidence that classified networks were compromised, it is not known what the hackers may have stolen or how long it will take to purge them.

Members of Congress said the government is still scrambling to understand the fallout as details emerge. “This hack was so big in scope that even our cybersecurity experts don’t have a real sense yet in the terms of the breadth of the intrusion itself,” commented Stephen Lynch, head of the House of Representatives’ oversight and reform committee, after attending a classified briefing.

Congressman Jamie Raskin, another member of the committee, added: “There’s a lot more that we don’t know than what we do know. I’m hopeful the government will learn exactly how this was perpetrated on us and what is the full scope of the damage.”

US officials say they only recently became aware of the attacks on both the government and some Fortune 500 companies in which cyber spies roamed undetected for as long as nine months. The energy department and national nuclear security administration, which manages the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile, was among the agencies breached.

Hackers injected malicious code into the software of SolarWinds, a company that provides network services, and appeared to use other tools to gain access. America’s cybersecurity agency warned of a “grave risk” to the nation’s infrastructure.

Tech giant Microsoft, which has helped respond to the breach, said it has identified more than 40 government agencies, think tanks, non-governmental organisations and IT companies infiltrated by the hackers. Four in five were in the US – nearly half of them tech companies – with victims also in Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Spain, the UK, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Microsoft said in a blogpost: “This is not espionage as usual, even in the digital age. Instead, it represents an act of recklessness that created a serious technological vulnerability for the United States and the world.”

But Donald Trump, long reluctant to criticise his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, has been conspicuously silent, focused instead on overturning an election that he lost. The US president is under growing pressure to speak out about what some described as an epic national security crisis.

The Republican senator Mitt Romney, a former presidential candidate, told SiriusXM radio: “What I find most astonishing is that a cyber hack of this nature is really the modern equivalent of almost Russian bombers reportedly flying undetected over the entire country.”

Describing the country’s cyber defences as extraordinarily vulnerable and weak, Romney added: “In this setting, not to have the White House aggressively speaking out and protesting and taking punitive action is really, really quite extraordinary.”

Trump’s absence on the issue implies that it will be left to his successor, Joe Biden, to retaliate through sanctions, criminal charges or other means. In a statement on Thursday, the president-elect said his administration “will make dealing with this breach a top priority from the moment we take office”.

The damage, however, could take years to remedy. Thomas Bossert, Trump’s former homeland security adviser, wrote this week in a New York Times column: “While the Russians did not have the time to gain complete control over every network they hacked, they most certainly did gain it over hundreds of them. It will take years to know for certain which networks the Russians control and which ones they just occupy.

“The logical conclusion is that we must act as if the Russian government has control of all the networks it has penetrated. But it is unclear what the Russians intend to do next. The access the Russians now enjoy could be used for far more than simply spying.”