Phase III – Stealth Is.

The US government worries that terrorists could take down the country’s electrical grid just by hitting a small node in the system. But a new study reveals the grid is too unreliable for that kind of attack.

Last year, network theorists published some papers suggesting that terrorists could take down the entire US electrical grid by attacking a small, remote power station. But new research shows that network theory models, which great for analyzing many complex systems, don’t work for patchwork systems like the US electrical grid. Basically, the grid was set up so haphazardly that you’d have to take out a major node before you’d affect the entire thing. (Want to see a map of the US electrical grid? Check out this one on NPR.)

Science Daily sums up:

[The] electric grid is probably more secure that many people realize — because it is so unpredictable. This, of course, makes it hard to improve its reliability (in another line of research, [study co-author Paul] Hines has explored why the rate of blackouts in the United States hasn’t improved in decades), but the up-side of this fact is that it would be hard for a terrorist to bring large parts of the grid down by attacking just one small part.

The researchers based their conclusions on real-world data from the power grid in the eastern U.S.

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The U.S. is joining the U.N. in a “cyber arms control collaboration.”

The US, UK, China and Russia are among 15 nations that have agreed to work together to reduce the threat of cyber attacks.

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The group has recommended the UN creates norms of accepted behaviour in cyberspace. It should also exchange information on national legislation and cybersecurity strategies, and strengthen the capacity of less-developed countries to protect their computer systems.

In the past, US efforts to work with other countries in cyberspace have centred on combatting crimes online, but did not deal with issues such as state involvement in or responsibility for cyber intrusions into critical computer systems.

So they pitch “Perfect Citizen” – forcing security measures on private companies.

Which stems from The Cyberwar Hype – pushed by some of the same defense contractors who’ve brought you the endless (and costly) war or terror.

No internet kill switch yet, but there were already provision in old congressional bills for turning off communications.

Does the transition to IP V. 6 have anything to do with this? It seems more addresses which do not favor NAT re-assignments would make it easier to track individuals to me. How Do DHCP leases and proxies get handled with regards to this new version of TCP/IP?

Also of note, U.S. Authorities Shut Down WordPress Host With 73,000 Blogs

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