America under attack!

 

 

 

"On top of everything else we need to worry about, we have this..."

Years ago, we developed what was known as a neutron bomb. A very lethal weapon, it was designed to do only one thing - kill people while leaving infrastructure intact. It was thought by the planners that we could kill the "human vermin" and leave the infrastructure intact for the victors. It was a bad idea, and fortunately, it was never used.

Today we have a new and potentially more lethal threat. It too, is intended to kill, cripple or disable people while leaving infrastructure intact. What is it? Cyber attacks. If you have been paying attention, cyber attacks on our country are increasing at an increasing rate. Who or what is being targeted? Just about everything. And who is doing the attacks? This is an interesting question. We are being attacked by an uncoordinated force of the Russian government, the Chinese government, the Russian mob, terrorists and individual pranksters, foreign and domestic.

We heard on the news this past week the security breach at Home Depot was much more extensive than what was suspected. This attack was probably done by hackers off shore in order to gain credit or debit information which could in turn be sold on the dark web. When Target had their breach, it took Target security a painfully long time to discover it. During that time, valuable credit card information was stolen. After the breach was announced, Target lost sales as well as the confidence of shoppers. It cost Target a mint. Was it Target's fault? Not really - it could have happened to just about any store.

On the news this morning, a national cyber security expert said something which was very interesting and frightening at the same time. The Russians have been probing our banks, electrical grid, as well as other infrastructure elements for months now. Some think the Russians have even set "cyber bombs" which when triggered, would send out malicious code designed to disable the net. The question was asked of the expert, "Why would they do this?" His answer was simple and blunt. "If the Russians do something, like maybe invade Chechnya, and if we tried to stop them, the Russians could activate the 'cyber bombs' causing us extensive mayhem and expense. They could do it without leaving home, and without even firing a shot."

Think about that for a minute. The greatest power on Earth, brought to it's knees by computer code. This is the stuff of science fiction not too many years ago. Today it is science. Think for a minute if the Russians targeted our electrical grid. Our electrical grid is our lynchpin. Without electricity, nothing works. Water is not pumped through pipelines, natural gas is not pumped through pipelines, electricity does not come into homes, and so on. Everyone's primary focus will go from working a 40 hour week to just plain staying alive. Trying not to freeze to death, die of dehydration, starve, you name it.

More on this to come in the upcoming weeks and months. This is on my radar now as more and more I am reading about these attacks, or hearing it discussed on the news. Who knows - we may be doing the same thing to the Russians. In any event, it is bad rice. It is taking away the very necessities people need to stay alive. Welcome to the brave new world of 1984, lived all over again.