US Needs To Create Non-Computer Back-Ups for Utilities

[Skylar]

We just had 2 serious ransomware attacks in America. First the Colonial pipeline, with a multimillion $$ ransom paid to the cyber attackers. Then came an attack on JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company. All JBS-fed beef plants and regional beef plants were shut down.

It is bad enough that international cyber criminals are staging these attacks, and causing havoc among private companies, but what about terrorists ? These could be individuals, terrorist organizations, or even unfriendly countries. And what if the targets they hit are essential utilities like the electrical grid, dams, water treatment and sewage plants, traffic lights, telephone and other communications systems ?

Should we be living with question marks pertaining to things we fundamentally need, to function as a society ? The reason why we are in this mess, which is getting worse as time goes by, is that in recent years we have connected all these essential utilities to computer systems, and made them be reliant that way.

What the US needs to do is have non-computer systems operational, like those that existed for decades before computers even existed. I hope this doesn't come as a shock to anyone, but all our essential utilities functioned nationwide, completely without the help of a single computer. Two world wars were fought without any computers in use.

In the wake of the Colonial Pipeline attack, Biden issued an executive order calling for an upgrade to the federal government’s way of handling cybersecurity. He also created a new Cybersecurity Safety Review Board, led by a private-sector representative and the Department of Homeland Security, that would produce reports on cyberattacks, after the fact.

While these moves are helpful, they only address security from a computer controlled context, which if nothing is done apart from that, won't the whole country still be in serious danger of major shutdowns of just about everything ? Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are well old enough to remember the days before computers, when everything worked, and nobody had any worries about ransomware attacks.
It is time for these old systems to re-emerge, and provide back-ups to our current systems.

White House: Ransomware attack on major meat processing company 'likely' from Russia

The Biden administration is “assessing” any potential impacts on supply, the White House said on Tuesday.

www.politico.com

What does that mean....'non computer backups'? Do you have any idea how complex these systems are? A bunch of guys just turning nobs and cranking gears isn't going to cut it.

 

[candycorn]

So conservatives are now for more regulation? They've abandoned every other thing they used to stand for...why not?

 

[protectionist]

Another function within utilities is their billing systems. Having these go down, could be very disabling. Simply restoring back to pre-computer days methodology, in the case of a cyber attack, would be advantageous.

 

[protectionist]

So conservatives are now for more regulation? They've abandoned every other thing they used to stand for...why not?

Nobody is talking about regulation. You can go back to sleep now. One out-loud dreamer in this thread is bad enough.

 

[protectionist]

What does that mean....'non computer backups'? Do you have any idea how complex these systems are? A bunch of guys just turning nobs and cranking gears isn't going to cut it.

It was "cut" for 100 years before computers came along, junior. And they don't need to be any more "complex" than they were in the 1950s. We got long just fine without the computers.

Dams, drawbridges, Electricity, traffic lights, indoor plumbing, heat & AC, TV, radio, and not a computer in sight.

 

[candycorn]

So conservatives are now for more regulation? They've abandoned every other thing they used to stand for...why not?

Nobody is talking about regulation. You can go back to sleep now. One out-loud dreamer in this thread is bad enough.

Regulation is exactly what you're talking about.

 

[Skylar]

What does that mean....'non computer backups'? Do you have any idea how complex these systems are? A bunch of guys just turning nobs and cranking gears isn't going to cut it.

It was "cut" for 100 years before computers came along, junior. And they don't need to be any more "complex" than they were in the 1950s. We got long just fine without the computers.

Dams, drawbridges, Electricity, traffic lights, indoor plumbing, heat & AC, TV, radio, and not a computer in sight.

We had nothing as complex then as we do now, boomer.

This is so typical of old conservatives: they don't really understand the complexity of a thing, so they pretend its actually simple enough for them to understand.

If only reality worked that way.

 

[pknopp]

This has been a known issue for years. People seem to no longer understand how to go out into the field and manually turn a valve.

Even a back up computer system would work. People act like the world is spinning out of control when the solutions here really aren't that complicated.

Sure. Simply bring back the way we used to do things, and let that sit side by side with the modern computerized version. If/whenever the times come that we need it, it will be there, and catastrophes can be avoided - IF step are taken to put them there.

That temporarily negatively affects shareholder value. All that training costs and such.

 

[protectionist]

Regulation is exactly what you're talking about.

No it's not. Your brain isn't workimng.

 

[protectionist]

We had nothing as complex then as we do now, boomer.

This is so typical of old conservatives: they don't really understand the complexity of a thing, so they pretend its actually simple enough for them to understand.

If only reality worked that way.

FALSE! We had electricity, we had traffic lights, we had dams, indoor plumbing, etc and these things were all about the same then as they are now, except for the computer connection, which was not necessary then, or now. They could all run now without computers, just as they did before.

Claiming complexity to be an obstacle is ridiculous. What the hell is complex about just doing again now, what you already did previously ? Answer: Nothing.

Now suppose you detail for us how OH SO COMPLEX our water treatment plants are now, junior, as compared to 1960, and why we couldn't manage them without a gooneybird computer. Go ahead. You made the claim. Back it up.

 

[protectionist]

That temporarily negatively affects shareholder value. All that training costs and such.

Obviously there would be a few associated issues to manage, but they pale in comparison to being without electricity, traffic lights, water supply, etc.

And in many cases, things would be rather simple. Ex. the shutdown of computer generated fire alarm panels, could be backed up by smoke detector alarms.

 

[Skylar]

We had nothing as complex then as we do now, boomer.

This is so typical of old conservatives: they don't really understand the complexity of a thing, so they pretend its actually simple enough for them to understand.

If only reality worked that way.

FALSE! We had electricity, we had traffic lights, we had dams, indoor plumbing, etc and these things were all about the same then as they are now, except for the computer connection, which was not necessary then, or now. They could all run now without computers, just as they did before.

Claiming complexity to be an obstacle is ridiculous. What the hell is complex about just doing again now, what you already did previously ? Answer: Nothing.

Now suppose you detail for us how OH SO COMPLEX our water treatment plants are now, junior, as compared to 1960, and why we couldn't manage them without a gooneybird computer. Go ahead. You made the claim. Back it up.

The system is so much more complicated today than it ever was when you were growing up. The idea that its all gonna be controlled now by legions of dudes pulling levers and cranking gears in perfect unison across multiple states by the thousands.....is pure, blissful ignorance.

You old conservative men have this bizarro fantasy that everything can be made simple because you find the modern world confusing or overwhelming.

Yeah, your confusion doesn't define the limits of our technology, boomer.

 

[justoffal]

We just had 2 serious ransomware attacks in America. First the Colonial pipeline, with a multimillion $$ ransom paid to the cyber attackers. Then came an attack on JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company. All JBS-fed beef plants and regional beef plants were shut down.

It is bad enough that international cyber criminals are staging these attacks, and causing havoc among private companies, but what about terrorists ? These could be individuals, terrorist organizations, or even unfriendly countries. And what if the targets they hit are essential utilities like the electrical grid, dams, water treatment and sewage plants, traffic lights, telephone and other communications systems ?

Should we be living with question marks pertaining to things we fundamentally need, to function as a society ? The reason why we are in this mess, which is getting worse as time goes by, is that in recent years we have connected all these essential utilities to computer systems, and made them be reliant that way.

What the US needs to do is have non-computer systems operational, like those that existed for decades before computers even existed. I hope this doesn't come as a shock to anyone, but all our essential utilities functioned nationwide, completely without the help of a single computer. Two world wars were fought without any computers in use.

In the wake of the Colonial Pipeline attack, Biden issued an executive order calling for an upgrade to the federal government’s way of handling cybersecurity. He also created a new Cybersecurity Safety Review Board, led by a private-sector representative and the Department of Homeland Security, that would produce reports on cyberattacks, after the fact.

While these moves are helpful, they only address security from a computer controlled context, which if nothing is done apart from that, won't the whole country still be in serious danger of major shutdowns of just about everything ? Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are well old enough to remember the days before computers, when everything worked, and nobody had any worries about ransomware attacks.
It is time for these old systems to re-emerge, and provide back-ups to our current systems.

White House: Ransomware attack on major meat processing company 'likely' from Russia

The Biden administration is “assessing” any potential impacts on supply, the White House said on Tuesday.

www.politico.com

Actually they are already in place.... a lot of the older power plants still have their manual switch gear rooms. They may need to be spruced up a bit but they are still there. This is why they old coal plants should be moth balled not destroyed.....they can be borught up in 24 hours and many of them can put out 2,500 to 5,000 megs.

JO,

 

[justoffal]

That temporarily negatively affects shareholder value. All that training costs and such.

Obviously there would be a few associated issues to manage, but they pale in comparison to being without electricity, traffic lights, water supply, etc.

And in many cases, things would be rather simple. Ex. the shutdown of computer generated fire alarm panels, could be backed up by smoke detector alarms.

It could be done quite easily....

 

[The Original Tree]

We just had 2 serious ransomware attacks in America. First the Colonial pipeline, with a multimillion $$ ransom paid to the cyber attackers. Then came an attack on JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company. All JBS-fed beef plants and regional beef plants were shut down.

It is bad enough that international cyber criminals are staging these attacks, and causing havoc among private companies, but what about terrorists ? These could be individuals, terrorist organizations, or even unfriendly countries. And what if the targets they hit are essential utilities like the electrical grid, dams, water treatment and sewage plants, traffic lights, telephone and other communications systems ?

Should we be living with question marks pertaining to things we fundamentally need, to function as a society ? The reason why we are in this mess, which is getting worse as time goes by, is that in recent years we have connected all these essential utilities to computer systems, and made them be reliant that way.

What the US needs to do is have non-computer systems operational, like those that existed for decades before computers even existed. I hope this doesn't come as a shock to anyone, but all our essential utilities functioned nationwide, completely without the help of a single computer. Two world wars were fought without any computers in use.

In the wake of the Colonial Pipeline attack, Biden issued an executive order calling for an upgrade to the federal government’s way of handling cybersecurity. He also created a new Cybersecurity Safety Review Board, led by a private-sector representative and the Department of Homeland Security, that would produce reports on cyberattacks, after the fact.

While these moves are helpful, they only address security from a computer controlled context, which if nothing is done apart from that, won't the whole country still be in serious danger of major shutdowns of just about everything ? Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are well old enough to remember the days before computers, when everything worked, and nobody had any worries about ransomware attacks.
It is time for these old systems to re-emerge, and provide back-ups to our current systems.

White House: Ransomware attack on major meat processing company 'likely' from Russia

The Biden administration is “assessing” any potential impacts on supply, the White House said on Tuesday.

www.politico.com

I believe the attacks are coming from the Faux Xiden regime.

 

[protectionist]

The system is so much more complicated today than it ever was when you were growing up. The idea that its all gonna be controlled now by legions of dudes pulling levers and cranking gears in perfect unison across multiple states by the thousands.....is pure, blissful ignorance.

You old conservative men have this bizarro fantasy that everything can be made simple because you find the modern world confusing or overwhelming.

Yeah, your confusion doesn't define the limits of our technology, boomer.

Sorry, I don't buy your doom scenario one iota, and I'm no the slightest bit confused. I see NO REASON whatsoever why utilities could not once again be run as they were for decades previously, and if there is any particular reason, you haven't posted it here. I challenged you to post detail of your claim. You failed to do that.

Your posting is a lot of nothing, which makes no sense. Nothing could be easier than doing things without computers. Everything is already in place - plumbing systems, electrical grid, traffic lights, etc. All you do is remove the computer component. Duh!

Funny how young people oddly think computers are necessary for these things...or maybe you're in the computer industry, and starting to feel a bit threatened. Don't be. We're talking about backing up our essential utilities, that's all. Hard to see how anybody could be opposed to this. Don't sell your stocks.

 

[protectionist]

I believe the attacks are coming from the Faux Xiden regime.

Well he is opposed to pipelines (at least in the US), and he's against meat too.

 

[The Original Tree]

I believe the attacks are coming from the Faux Xiden regime.

Well he is opposed to pipelines (at least in the US), and he's against meat too.

But Putin Pipelines are GOOD!

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

We just had 2 serious ransomware attacks in America. First the Colonial pipeline, with a multimillion $$ ransom paid to the cyber attackers. Then came an attack on JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company. All JBS-fed beef plants and regional beef plants were shut down.

It is bad enough that international cyber criminals are staging these attacks, and causing havoc among private companies, but what about terrorists ? These could be individuals, terrorist organizations, or even unfriendly countries. And what if the targets they hit are essential utilities like the electrical grid, dams, water treatment and sewage plants, traffic lights, telephone and other communications systems ?

Should we be living with question marks pertaining to things we fundamentally need, to function as a society ? The reason why we are in this mess, which is getting worse as time goes by, is that in recent years we have connected all these essential utilities to computer systems, and made them be reliant that way.

What the US needs to do is have non-computer systems operational, like those that existed for decades before computers even existed. I hope this doesn't come as a shock to anyone, but all our essential utilities functioned nationwide, completely without the help of a single computer. Two world wars were fought without any computers in use.

In the wake of the Colonial Pipeline attack, Biden issued an executive order calling for an upgrade to the federal government’s way of handling cybersecurity. He also created a new Cybersecurity Safety Review Board, led by a private-sector representative and the Department of Homeland Security, that would produce reports on cyberattacks, after the fact.

While these moves are helpful, they only address security from a computer controlled context, which if nothing is done apart from that, won't the whole country still be in serious danger of major shutdowns of just about everything ? Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are well old enough to remember the days before computers, when everything worked, and nobody had any worries about ransomware attacks.
It is time for these old systems to re-emerge, and provide back-ups to our current systems.

White House: Ransomware attack on major meat processing company 'likely' from Russia

The Biden administration is “assessing” any potential impacts on supply, the White House said on Tuesday.

www.politico.com

Not gonna happen.

 

[protectionist]

Not gonna happen.

Cyber attacks against our utilities ? Sure it could happen. Rather easily in fact.