Is the government using the term cyber-terrorism when referring to Y2k. I thought cyber-terrorism was terrorist hackers being able to enter the computers of the government and businesses.

After Sen. Bennett's hearing today on the Food Industry, Albright had hearings about cyber-terrorism. Maybe I should have listened more closely if she was actually talking about Y2k.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), February 05, 1999

Answers

"Cyber-terrorism" has seemingly become the government code-word for Y2K-failures. Every potential Y2K disruption scenario I've read has been parrotted almost word-for-word as "The possible outcome of a cyber-terrorist attack on our nation and its critical infrastructure."

Far be it from me to say that our government is making moves to cover its tracks on Y2K by laying groundwork to shift the blame for any failures from a "preventable Y2K problem" to "the actions of a few sophisticated, determined computer terrorists."

But the picture is recognizable no matter what style of abstract art the government and media spinners are trying to convince us to see. I guess we Y2K GIs never paid attention to "art appreciation" and can see the picture for what it is.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), February 05, 1999.

You might want to read LINK

-- Mr. K (look@this.com), February 05, 1999.

Linda,

I think they are just trying to put a "face" on Y2K that is easier for the military types to "fight." Y2K, in and of itself, is just too elusive for them. With the terrorism angle they can identify a physical enemy ... maybe. (But don't count on it).

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), February 05, 1999.

The term cyberterrorism comes from the military's Information Warfare initiative founded a few years ago. At the time, interest in the threat of terrorism to our critical infrastructure was piqued by incidents such as hackers gaining access to government computers and the very real vulnerabilities that our technologies posses. It is a spinoff of the older PSYCOPS, the use of psychology for warring purposed.

It started off with a lot of fanfare, but is not hyped much anymore within DoD.

I consider the advent of this term in relation to y2k to be a great synchronicity, but when Uncle Sam starts using the two synonymously, my alarm bells are going to be ringing.

-- a (a@a.a), February 06, 1999.

From what I have read, the military is well aware of Y2K. They have been testing and repairing for some time.

-- Reporter (foo@foo.bar), February 06, 1999.

The possible effects of Y2k overlap possible effects of cyberterrorism -- corruption/destruction of data, maloperation of devices, incorrect/missing/misleading indicators or warnings, and so on. So to a certain degree there is a legitimate overlap in preparation to cope with the effects of the two.

Having said that, I must add that it is clear by now that the recent increase in governmental talk about cyberterrorism, contrasted with sparsity of references to preparation for effects of Y2k, means that their references to "cyberterrorism" includes Y2k. As Wildweasel wrote, "'Cyber-terrorism' has seemingly become the government code-word for Y2K-failures."

While I agree with Wildweasel's hint that one motive for this code-speak could be the laying of grounds for blaming Y2k effects on terrorists, I think a stronger motive is that the general public responds to "cyberterrorism" with less frivolity than it does to "Y2k".

-- No Spam Please (anon@ymous.com), February 06, 1999.