

Ask HN: Safety Critical infrastructure on the Internet - pilom

I've been following the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 and while I understand that the "President pulls the plug on the internet" stories are a little exaggerated, it got me thinking about what truly important systems rely on the internet.<p>Easy ones that come to mind are:
Email communication
Phoneline back hauls
Stock market electronic trades
Cost aware thermostats (imagine they all loose connectivity, default to max usage and bring the power grid down)<p>What other safety critical infrastructures rely on the internet?
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iuguy
Military links between systems usually traverse the network over Internet
(albeit in an encrypted manner, such as with a VPN).

Energy firms link sites together via site to site VPNs on the Internet. I
wouldn't be surprised if remote support for SCADA networks weren't linked in a
similar manner, which would at least make for an interesting fluff article on
zdnet.

It's a bit like Madagascar in Pandemic 2. What are they going to do? Shut it
all (or rather sections of it) down? Then what?

