Tech Firm VP: The Internet will be Taken Down Next Year for 24 Hours

Stop and think of all the things you do on a daily basis that require the Internet.  It’s more than just a social venue.  Financial transactions, business dealings, purchases of necessities — all of this happens on the Internet.  And many people now telecommute, or work remotely over the Internet.  If it goes down, a large part of America, and the world for that matter, just comes to a halt.

With such a powerful tool, we’d be surprised if there were not groups wanting to take control.  And there are.  Obama and Merkel both have commented on what they perceive as the need to protect people from “disruptive technological forces.”  If that sounds ominous, it should.

This threat from Obama and Merkel dovetails well with the ability of the DHS to flip the “kill switch,” thereby turning off the Internet.  In fact, a Federal Judge just intervened in that matter, ruling that the DHS must reveal information on their “kill switch.”

One would have to be pretty naive to not see the connections here.

With all of this as a background, it’s disturbing to see predictions made of a possible 24-hour shutdown of the Internet next year.

It’s December, that time of the year when many industry experts make all sorts of predictions for the year ahead. But one prophecy caught Business Insider’s eye: The whole internet will shut down for 24 hours.

The dire forecast comes from the US technology security vendor LogRhythm. According to James Carder, the company’s chief information security officer and vice president, it won’t just be a technical issue stopping people from uploading their selfies on Instagram.

“In 2017, we’re going to see it hit big sometime, somewhere,” he said. “If the internet goes down, financial markets will tank.”

Imagine the chaos that would ensue.  And they are correct about a financial crash if the Internet failed.  Think of all the people unable to access their bank and brokerage accounts.  Bills would go unpaid.  And depending on the motivation of those who might cause such an Internet crash, would the sites you depend on even be there when the Internet came back up?

The whole “fake news” issue could play into this as well.  Mr. Carder continues,

Carder also predicted the “fake news” issue would only get worse and that hackers would target major media sites like CNN and Fox News.

“The power of influence is starting to shift away from mainstream news outlets, and I don’t think that is something those mainstream outlets can afford to let happen. They will respond to the fake-news threat by trying to implement some level of media control that will likely take it a little too far,” he said, citing Facebook’s postelection efforts.

“I think hackers, in the name of protecting our freedom of speech, will retaliate by knocking down a major media outlet or two.”

Whenever something as integral as the Internet exists, there will be those who will seek to control it or pervert it for their own purposes.  So far, we’ve seen some major sites get taken down.

“If you can prove that you can take down massive sites and a large chunk of the US internet for a few hours, a 24-hour outage seems pretty easy to do.”

Carder also predicted the “fake news” issue would only get worse and that hackers would target major media sites like CNN and Fox News.

“The power of influence is starting to shift away from mainstream news outlets, and I don’t think that is something those mainstream outlets can afford to let happen. They will respond to the fake-news threat by trying to implement some level of media control that will likely take it a little too far,” he said, citing Facebook’s postelection efforts.

“I think hackers, in the name of protecting our freedom of speech, will retaliate by knocking down a major media outlet or two.”

Australian executive Simon Howe predicted that ransomware on mobile devices would become far more prevalent in the new year and used to extort money from unsuspecting smartphone users.

“Attackers will target consumers and hold their personal data hostage,” said Howe, LogRhythm’s ANZ director of sales. “For example, attackers will threaten to send out or delete a user’s photos unless a ransom is paid. Just think — how much would you pay to recover your photos?

“Attackers will use preauthenticated tokens to disseminate malware. Because so many Apple devices are interconnected, the malware could very quickly spread.”

Could the entire Internet be disrupted for a day or two?  And what would things look like on the other side of such an event?

Source:  Business Insider