Hackers Could Crash The Internet, Power Grid?

Overhype

from the say-what-now? dept

It was just last week that we were complaining about journalists overhyping the threats to the internet, and now this story comes along with an incredily FUD-filled lead that is never actually backed up in the article. The article starts out by saying that hackers could shut down the internet and our electric power grid if they wanted to, based on some theories of how networks work. The idea that certain nodes on a network are more important than others is nothing new – but that doesn’t explain how the internet gets shut down or (even more unlikely) how a “hacker” would shut down a power grid. The research itself, does seem to suggest some useful things about how certain nodes should be even more carefully protected from such attacks, so I have nothing against the research itself. I’m just taking issue with the reporter for making it sound like a bunch of script kiddies are going to turn off all the lights.