Re: incidents from history

["Jay D. Dyson" <jdyson () treachery net>]

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On Sat, 29 Nov 2008, Flavio Silva wrote:

> I want to know if someone can name the greatest incident of the computer 
> history, but not the Morris Worm. Some time ago I read something about 
> an incident called The Rising Sun, but now I'm not sure about this name. 
> It was a supposed intrusion in some MIT lab, Harvard University, and 
> some military facilities. Probably it was executed by terrorists. I want 
> to confirm all this.

I'd have to say that, in terms of claimed monetary and operational losses, 
Nimda and Code Red qualify, as do the Melissa, ILoveYou and Sircam 
automated intrusion agents.  However, no real connection to any terrorist 
organization has been (nor can be) made with respect to these attacks.

As for any "Rising Sun" incident, I cannot recall anything remotely 
approximating the scenario described.  Of course, we're now seeing a 
wholesale prohibition on thumb drives across the DoD and NASA, it seems 
that serious enough incidents have occurred to warrant an update in 
policies and procedures.

On the topic of "cyber-terrorists," I've spoken my mind on that issue over 
six years ago in a keynote I gave at Toorcon[*].

- -Jay

* http://www.treachery.net/articles_papers/tutorials/the_myth_of_cyber-terrorism/

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