Some might say a world war is being fought as we speak. As of this morning, a massive DDoS attack is underway. DDoS is A Distributed Denial of Service. A cyber world war is ongoing and it seems we here in the United States are losing. Much of the East Coast it seems is under a cyber attack.
Yahoo claims that roughly 500 million email accounts were hacked and personal information was stolen. Remember the Target hack where millions of credit and debit card numbers were compromised. What is worrisome besides the fact the information was stolen, is that the companies take months, and in some cases, years to admit to a hack.
Now WikiLeaks dominates the news, with people on the edge of their seats waiting for the next round of emails that may contain solicitous information, which people can crow or moan about as the case may be. It seems our every move, our every sentence, and our every purchase is being recorded and then leaked to someone for some reason or another.
The participants in this war do not even have to get up out of their seats and yet the war rages while we go about our daily routines, refusing to change any habits, take any precautions or even listen when sound advice is given.
Are all of these cyber attacks and the gathering of information simply a prelude to bigger things to come, are we being softened up. Are we so used to hearing about hacks and stolen information that we have grown deaf and blind to the threat, are we willing rolling over so our soft underbellies are exposed to the thrust?
The next big hack may send this country back to the dark ages, literally in the dark ages for weeks, months, or years depending on the severity, all without firing a shot or launching a missile. Will other countries help, probably not, because what have we done for them lately. Other countries will wring their hands and moan and say how sorry they are, but in fact, they will be more worried about it happening to them so they will ultimately bow to those who created the havoc. Bow down so they can survive.
However, Europe and Asian countries would soon feel the bite if the United States floundered for even a few days. Financial markets would collapse, oil prices would skyrocket, and terrorist groups would quickly take advantage here in the U.S. and elsewhere, and the country (s) responsible would not have fired a shot in this world war.
Certain countries would step up to help but the price for their help would be steep, we would essentially have to turn over the reins as a price, and we the citizens would be asked to give up our way of life so we all could survive. We may very well lose this war if something is not done and done quickly because the pieces of the puzzle are coming together and it will not be a pretty picture once all the pieces fall into place.