Overhype

Overhype

by Mike Masnick




Cyberterrorism Is Very Unlikely; More Worried About Domestic Hackers Screwing Up

from the yet-again dept

Another issue that comes up fairly frequently that the press likes to hype out of proportion is the "threat" from cyberterrorism. Here's the first mainstream article I've seen in a while that basically says that the whole cyberterrorism thing has been blown way out of proportion. Certainly there are security holes and problems with the internet. Clearly, damage can be done to businesses and business processes by taking down parts of the internet for a period of time. But, the real "threat" has been overhyped - where people (mostly reporters) make it sound like all of our electricity is going to be shut off because of some hackers across the world. In the meantime, it sounds like the FBI is more worried about American hackers screwing things up than they are about cyberterrorists. They put out a warning that script kiddies should avoid "patriotic hacking" because (1) it's illegal and (2) they might be mucking up a system that the US government has already hacked and is using to gather information (though, they don't see this in those words exactly...).

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