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According to reports on the wires this morning, the ubiquitous protocol
known as TCP has a fatal flaw that could see large parts of the internet
brought to its knees by evil cyberterrorists.
Naturally the media is not releasing the exact details of the flaw, but
anyone with a good understanding of TCP can probably see for themselves
how such an attack could be mounted.
What's more, now that the presence of a vulnerability has been disclosed,
you can bet that thousands of idiots all around the globe will be working
hard to come up with software that hordes of script kiddies can use
to wreak havoc.
Apparently, some major network providers have already implemented
early-warning systems to detect attempts to exploit the flaw -- but that's
no guaranteed protection
The Aardvark PC-Based Digital
Entertainment Centre Project
Yes, at last, this feature
has been updated again! (31 Mar 2003)
So what will you be doing if the Net collapses?
Will SMS replace email for a short while? Will there be a sudden surge in
fax traffic? Will we actually (gasp!) go back to writing letters?
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No doubt the security services of certain governments will immediately blame
terrorist groups if/when the first successful attack cripples any significant
part of the Net and if reports
are to be believed, anyone who has a computer will come under closer
scrutiny by authorities.
Given the world's growing reliance on the internet for everything from informal
communications to global virtual private networks, any significant disruption
could have a huge effect, both socially and economically.
So what are the contingency plans I wonder?
I mean, with a piece of infrastructure as critical as the Net, there must
be contingencies in place should it suffer a catastrophic failure -- right?
Well the short answer is -- no.
To the best of my knowledge, if the net suffers a fatal attack then we're just
plain out of luck.
If you run a business highly dependent on e-commerce then too bad, you're
out of business.
If you're a sad loner who only has virtual friends then be prepared to get
very lonely :-)
But this is a highly improbable scenario. Even if huge chunks of the Net
were taken out by a group of cyberidiots, the rest of it would continue to
operate.
However, it might be a good idea to dust off that old fax machine and remind
yourself that you don't have to lick stamps these days (they have a self-adhesive
coating on the back) -- just in case.
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