[Operational] Internet Police

Fri Dec 10 17:14:20 UTC 2010

On Friday, December 10, 2010 11:46:43 am JC Dill wrote:
>   On 10/12/10 8:08 AM, Lamar Owen wrote:
> > In reality DoS threats/execution of those threats/ 'pwning' / website vandalism are all forms of terrorism.

> No one was "terrorized" because they couldn't reach MasterCard or 
> because MasterCard's website was defaced.  Vandalism doesn't even begin 
> to equate to terrorism.  You demean everyone who has been impacted by 
> true terrorism by trying to equate these relatively trivial events with 
> the real events of terrorism.

As I sat deciding on the words to use before hitting send, that, even though the word terrorism is emotionally and politically charged, that it is an accurate, if vague, term, especially in the age of identity theft.  And I say that having family members that have been impacted directly by terrorism, so I certainly am not intending to demean anyone, and I did carefully consider that some might consider it a demeaning statement.

But the fact of the matter is that website defacement and DDoS can cause loss of income or even worse, depending upon the exact content of the defacement and the exact nature of the DDoS.  Identity theft can cause loss of life due to the stress of mopping up afterwards.  If your employer's bottom line is negatively impacted by a website defacement or by DoS, your job itself could be negatively impacted.

Just because it's on the web or in e-mail or whatnot (I'm really resisting the c*space metaphor here) doesn't mean dire real-world consequences can't be felt.