Hmmm....what's this button do?

I just watched this fascinating 14 minute HBO film that explains in layman's terms how the world of cyber warfare works, what it can do, and how vulnerable we might be:

It's from the perspective of the Israeli cyber security industry, one of the most advanced in the world.  (I built a home for a family, the guy being a cyber security expert...Naval Academy graduate...super smart...who works here in the US for an Israeli company, so I already knew bits and pieces of this.)  

The video shows how a hacker can take control of your car when you're driving and cause you to crash.  It shows how, with a laptop keystroke, a hacker can shut down the pumps in our water supply system or sewage treatment plants.  Ditto for our power grid.  Not everything at once, but selected here and there, at their discretion.  Can you imagine how disruptive this would be to our economy?  OMG!  And all those infrastructure controls might already be infected, just waiting for the command to activate.  They're always attacking, we're always reacting.  Not a good position to be in!

So who are these hackers?  They most likely are Russian, or Chinese, or North Korean, or Iranian, but they could also be freelancers working for the highest bidder.  It's like we're living in the 21st Century Wild West!  What they conveniently don't discuss is what the US, or the UK, or France or Germany, etc, is capable of doing to them.  Which brings me back to Israel.  Why don't we hire them, or collaborate with them (hopefully we already are), to "take care" of the Iranian mischief makers?   And the North Korean's whose expertise is behind the Iranians?

It seems to me the days of massive standing militaries are waning, just like the days of sailing ships gave way to steam and nuclear power, horses to tanks, and catapults to cannon.  We can attack an adversary, or be attacked by an adversary, without ever firing a shot.

Are we screwed?  Is it too late already?  Probably not.  We just need to make sure that our (Western) educational systems cultivate the best and brightest minds in the world to defend "us" and stay one step ahead of "them". And be grateful Israel is our friend, and do all we can to assist them and keep them our friend.

I know reading blog or Facebook or Instagram posts about puppies or butterflies or casserole recipes is more entertaining, but this is pretty fascinating, too.  Please watch it and leave me your comments.

S

The only acceptable outcome: We win, they lose

When Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, it was pretty obvious who did it....the sky was full of planes emblazoned with the Rising Sun.  Japan!

The same was true in 1939 when Germany attacked Poland, in 1967 when Israel got the jump on the Arab nations surrounding them, and in 1991 when the USA went into Saddam Hussein's Iraq.  It was obvious who the combatants were because they had insignia on their tanks and planes and uniforms.  It was mano a mano, black hats vs white hats.  Old school warfare.  

But when peasant guerillas worked their Vietnamese fields by day, then went on the attack at night, it was difficult to know who we were fighting.  The rules began to change.  Today they're changing again.  Today we're being attacked, and this time we're not even sure who or where they are.

Hitler couldn't say, "Nope, those aren't our guys" after we saw them.  There was physical evidence to the contrary.  But today Russia's Vladimir Putin, after his cyber-warriors hacked into sensitive American political files and emails, can simply say "This is nonsense.  We have done nothing.  Show me your proof."  His cyber-soldiers don't leave behind flags or insignia on the side of tanks or airplanes. 

Our geeks can today finally say with great certainty it was Russia who interfered with our recent national elections (while not impossible, it's extremely difficult to backtrack a cyber attack), and I'm sure after a month or so of intensive investigation France will say it was also Russia who tried to influence their election (which BTW is tomorrow/Sunday).  German elections are later this year, and I'll bet you a steak dinner Russian political hacking will occur then, too, with the aim of helping whichever candidate Putin thinks will be more friendly to him.  All our aircraft carriers and ICBM's and special forces will be helpless to defend us.  We're not going to nuke someone we're not absolutely certain harmed us.  It's unthinkable, and Putin knows it.

National security no longer necessarily means guarding a border or builder bigger, better bombs.  It means outsmarting our adversaries while not getting caught ourselves.  We need to review where we're spending our defense dollars.  We need more for science and technology education, and less for some stupid border wall.

Ronald Reagan showed the Soviet Union they didn't have the financial resources to go toe-to-toe with us militarily, which caused them to throw in the Cold War towel.  Donald Trump needs to double down on the economic sanctions Barack Obama and our allies put in place to back down Putin today, and maybe even cyber attack them just enough to show them two can play that game.  If Mr. Trump flinches, IMO that should be grounds for impeachment followed by a treason trial.  We can't lose this one!  Cut Putin no slack Mr. President, and for Pete's sake, get yourself and/or your people out of bed with him.

S 

Oh yeah? Well...mine's bigger than yours. Take THAT!

I had to look twice to make sure this story wasn't from the The Onion:

"Russia claims its Electronic Warfare troops can detect and neutralize any target from a ship's system and radar to satellites, rendering ships, planes and missiles useless."  It went on to say, "You don't need expensive weapons to win.  Powerful radio-electronic jamming is enough."

You can read it for yourself here if you like.

While this story dovetails nicely with my previous post, it seems just a little too far fetched to be believable.  First of all, why would the Russians put this story out?  Why would they admit to us how advanced they were?  Unless....they had reason to believe that the US actually did have the technology to, for example, zap a North Korean missile at launch?  

Taking it a step further, do they actually think we really could somehow take down their satellites or aircraft or other systems, too?  Or is this story just their pathetic attempt to play "Anything you can do, we can do better"?

I'm wondering now if the hypothesis of my last post might have just received a (tiny) bit of credence?  Do the world's Superpowers really have some revolutionary new technology that will make our traditional weapons systems obsolete, or are the surviving Twilight Zone writers back at it again pulling our chain?

S