

Cyberwarfare: The most dangerous kind might not even require a PC - ErrantX
http://www.errant.me.uk/blog/2009/06/cyberwarfare-the-most-dangerous-kind-might-not-even-need-a-pc/

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mixmax
The real trick, of course, is to cut the right cables.

The Internet is a graph with many interconnected nodes, and when one node
fails traffic is routed through other nodes. If you cut out the right nodes
the resulting traffic will overload the nodes that the traffic is redirected
to, causing them to fail too, and in turn rerouting to other nodes that will
also fail under the increasing load. A cascading failure.

I remember reading a report where someone calculated that if the right three
major routers in the US were taken out the entire Internet would grind to a
halt within minutes. This could probably also be achieved by cutting the right
cables.

The real danger is terrorists with shovels that know their graph theory.

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mahmud
_The real danger is terrorists with shovels that know their graph theory._

Anyone who _knows_ graph theory is probably unfit to dig any physical holes.

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TrevorJ
Extrapolating further, once computerized implantable medical devices and/or
nanotechnology become more prevalent, his general point will be even scarier.

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pie
The "most dangerous kind" is just regular warfare, i.e. physically disrupting
infrastructure.

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ErrantX
Yes in a way perhaps - but not the kind of warfare a terrorist, say, could use
against us with ease.

I'd put this on the same "level" as bombings and so forth.

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imajes
Er,

it's way way more simpler than that. London's primary data store is in a
number of buildings on the edge of Docklands/Isle of Dogs, on a road called
Marsh Lane. Leading away from that, is limeharbour, and on this road there are
at least 100 man hole covers, showing the logos of all the main transit
companies (colt, etc). Here, let me show you: <http://bit.ly/qvEXM>

how hard, exactly, would it be to lift these covers and snap all the cables in
sight?

