Thursday, 17 April 2003
Cyber-attacks change the world
Cyber-attacks with real-world consequences - malicious hackers could to sign up victims to receive catalogues from hundreds of thousands of Web sites. Such an attack would not only swamp the target with hundreds of pounds of mail each day, but would cripple the post office that must deal with this deluge. Last year, when spammer Alan Ralsky bragged to a newspaper that he made his fortune by sending unsolicited commercial email to vast numbers of people, his admission spurred readers to sign Ralsky up for thousands of catalogs and brochures. A report in the New York Times suggests that terrorists could use such an attack to divert attention away from a much more damaging assault, such as sneaking in anthrax-laced mail while the post office was swamped. Good plot for a terrorism thriller? Or too close to the mark?
posted by Helen Whitehead 11:16 AM
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