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Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught

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101–110 of 222 posts

Re: Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught

#101
post #7

Bit of a misleading title by Reuters. They accessed the business networks of the NNSA, the agency responsible for maintaining the nuclear stockpile, but did not access the networks managing the actual nuclear weapons, as the title half-implies. There was no threat of random nuclear weapon exploits, those networks have not been compromised as far as we know.

There is an odd quirk in our culture, where lying is universally acknowledged to be toxic behavior, but the use of intentionally misleading language is merely frowned upon--as long as it doesn't contain a falsifiable claim. But this is really a distinction without a difference, as they achieve the same goal, which is to put an idea in the mind of the listener/reader which the speaker/writer knows to be false. After a…

[deleted]

Re: Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught

#103
post #7

Bit of a misleading title by Reuters. They accessed the business networks of the NNSA, the agency responsible for maintaining the nuclear stockpile, but did not access the networks managing the actual nuclear weapons, as the title half-implies. There was no threat of random nuclear weapon exploits, those networks have not been compromised as far as we know.

There is an odd quirk in our culture, where lying is universally acknowledged to be toxic behavior, but the use of intentionally misleading language is merely frowned upon--as long as it doesn't contain a falsifiable claim. But this is really a distinction without a difference, as they achieve the same goal, which is to put an idea in the mind of the listener/reader which the speaker/writer knows to be false. After a…

Excellent point. The goal of honest language should be the creation of correct beliefs about reality in the minds of who listens to you, even if those beliefs might sometimes not serve your ends. Otherwise, it's not communication, it's warring against truth.

(Of course, there is disagreement about what is true in many cases, but in this particular case, the reporter or editor presumably knew the difference and went forward with the title anyway.)

Re: Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught

#104

Oops your launch codes have been encrypted! What Happened to My Nuclear Deterrent? Your abort codes are encrypted and your nuclear arsenal has been placed at DEFCON level 1. Many of your ICBMs, submarines, launch silos, bombers and other facilities are no longer accessible because their communication channels have been encrypted. Maybe you are busy looking for a way to cancel the launch, but do not waste your time. N…

"Good thing Bitcoin is just one of our many projects."

Re: Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught

#105
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reliable, boring old tech to the rescue. Reliable is not a word that comes to mind when recalling floppy disks of my youth.

Reliable no, but difficult to access via a REST API yes

A Kubernetes cluster of nuclear weapons. Want mutually assured destruction? Simply deploy a helm chart!

Re: Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught

#106
post #74

Responding to this might be Bidens first major international crisis. Would not want that job.

As if dealing with COVID and growing domestic extremism weren't enough

COVID is solved. We have two effective vaccines now approved. It's just a matter of time to get them distributed at this point.

Re: Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught

#107
post #7

Bit of a misleading title by Reuters. They accessed the business networks of the NNSA, the agency responsible for maintaining the nuclear stockpile, but did not access the networks managing the actual nuclear weapons, as the title half-implies. There was no threat of random nuclear weapon exploits, those networks have not been compromised as far as we know.

There is an odd quirk in our culture, where lying is universally acknowledged to be toxic behavior, but the use of intentionally misleading language is merely frowned upon--as long as it doesn't contain a falsifiable claim. But this is really a distinction without a difference, as they achieve the same goal, which is to put an idea in the mind of the listener/reader which the speaker/writer knows to be false. After a…

I would argue that there's a caveat: if the lie is about a person or group that the mainstream media is active hostile against, lying is not just expected, but encouraged and rewarded.

Or so, anonymous sources familiar with the matter tell me.

Re: Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As if dealing with COVID and growing domestic extremism weren't enough

COVID is solved. We have two effective vaccines now approved. It's just a matter of time to get them distributed at this point.

COVID is not solved. There are massive vaccine distribution problems to solve, vaccine misinformation campaigns to work against, and the 10's of thousands or 100's of additional deaths that will happen between now and widespread immunity.

And you could of course include the economic fallout of COVID under the same umbrella, which is nowhere close to being solved.

Re: Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught

#109
post #6

It feels like we're in the calm before the storm and nobody is watching the approaching squall. China growing in power and influence, flexing itself on the global stage. The US waning internationally, citizens divided and full of hate. We're factory-less, fab-less, and have fewer educated. Fewer consumers. Lots of debt. We have SpaceX, but China's pace of exploration and international cooperation is increasing faster…

>"I hope we're hacking back just as hard. That's what the NSA should be doing rather than domestic spying."

You can sleep well. Spying is what every government does.

Re: Nuclear weapons agency breached amid massive cyber onslaught

#110
post #7

Bit of a misleading title by Reuters. They accessed the business networks of the NNSA, the agency responsible for maintaining the nuclear stockpile, but did not access the networks managing the actual nuclear weapons, as the title half-implies. There was no threat of random nuclear weapon exploits, those networks have not been compromised as far as we know.

There is an odd quirk in our culture, where lying is universally acknowledged to be toxic behavior, but the use of intentionally misleading language is merely frowned upon--as long as it doesn't contain a falsifiable claim. But this is really a distinction without a difference, as they achieve the same goal, which is to put an idea in the mind of the listener/reader which the speaker/writer knows to be false. After a…

That's not my culture. I don't misrepresent things like that. And I don't frown on I curse. But no one cares what I think.
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