I wonder what Dave Dobson is up to these days (if he's still alive), and which school he taught at, and what his students thought of him...
Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
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Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#12> Today, the fear is back: with al-Qaida resurgent, North Korea out of control, and nuclear rumours emanating from any number of "rogue states", North Korea indeed got the bomb three years after the article was written - the interesting question is what kept Iran? They didn't manage that feat in 20 years (thankfully, to add).
Cyber sabotage (see the documentary zero days)
It's arguably also in their interest strategically to be in a position where they are perpetually a couple of months away from making one but not to actually take that final step.
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#13Nuclear secrecy is a fascinating blog about this sort of thing. The designation “top secret” was first used for the Manhattan project, which of course the military developed in secret, and then unleashed upon an unsuspecting world by announcing it had destroyed the two Japanese cities. But still to this day, all the nuclear weapons stuff is shrouded in mystery and secrecy. How they dispose of the waste … classified,…
As an outside observer, the US is a beacon of transparency on this topic.
In Israel the topic is under strict military censorship.
What little discussion is allowed has to periodically sprinkled with the incantation "according to foreign sources".
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#14> Today, the fear is back: with al-Qaida resurgent, North Korea out of control, and nuclear rumours emanating from any number of "rogue states", North Korea indeed got the bomb three years after the article was written - the interesting question is what kept Iran? They didn't manage that feat in 20 years (thankfully, to add).
As the other commenter says - North Korea isn't connected to the internet in any meaningful way so it's impossible to cyber sabotage their gas centrifuges remotely. Without the correct type of uranium, you can't build an a-bomb.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet: "typically introduced to the target environment via an infected USB flash drive, thus crossing any air gap."
IMHO being connected to the internet or not doesn't play a role here.
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#15Nuclear secrecy is a fascinating blog about this sort of thing. The designation “top secret” was first used for the Manhattan project, which of course the military developed in secret, and then unleashed upon an unsuspecting world by announcing it had destroyed the two Japanese cities. But still to this day, all the nuclear weapons stuff is shrouded in mystery and secrecy. How they dispose of the waste … classified,…
For those interested, Restricted Data is a fascinating book in this vein.
The blog they referred to and the book you mentioned are both by the same author :)
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#16> Today, the fear is back: with al-Qaida resurgent, North Korea out of control, and nuclear rumours emanating from any number of "rogue states", North Korea indeed got the bomb three years after the article was written - the interesting question is what kept Iran? They didn't manage that feat in 20 years (thankfully, to add).
As the other commenter says - North Korea isn't connected to the internet in any meaningful way so it's impossible to cyber sabotage their gas centrifuges remotely. Without the correct type of uranium, you can't build an a-bomb.
Iran’s air gapped computers for their centrifuges were hit. Stuxnet and its deployment remains one of the greatest hacks we know about. Kim Zetter wrote a good book about it.
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#17The end of that second paragraph is the most 2003 thing, I remember the media elevating the fear around these issues so much:
> Today, the fear is back: with al-Qaida resurgent, North Korea out of control, and nuclear rumours emanating from any number of "rogue states", we cling, at least, to the belief that not just anyone could figure out how to make an atom bomb. The trouble is that, 40 years ago, anyone did.
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#18Nuclear secrecy is a fascinating blog about this sort of thing. The designation “top secret” was first used for the Manhattan project, which of course the military developed in secret, and then unleashed upon an unsuspecting world by announcing it had destroyed the two Japanese cities. But still to this day, all the nuclear weapons stuff is shrouded in mystery and secrecy. How they dispose of the waste … classified,…
As an outside observer, the US is a beacon of transparency on this topic. In Israel the topic is under strict military censorship. What little discussion is allowed has to periodically sprinkled with the incantation "according to foreign sources".
Israel's entire nuclear program leaked out thanks to one guy, whom they later entrapped on a cruise ship and extradited to Israel.
No buy the US keeps all the good secrets.
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#19Relevance to AI - forget the pause, the cat is already out of the bag
Re: Two students built an A-bomb (2003)
#20> Today, the fear is back: with al-Qaida resurgent, North Korea out of control, and nuclear rumours emanating from any number of "rogue states", North Korea indeed got the bomb three years after the article was written - the interesting question is what kept Iran? They didn't manage that feat in 20 years (thankfully, to add).
Iran weren't trying to build a weapon, according to US intelligence. They want to do peaceful nuclear research. The Ayatollah also put a fatwa on nuclear weapons, calling them "satanic".