Xiaoniu 小妞

How paranoid are people in this country? I think that over the past 6 years things have just gotten out of hand. I try to keep up with (general) security news and the regular news and almost every time I read something I’m just left dumbfounded. People freaking out because of a publicity stunt in Boston. Insanely annoying and ineffective security measures being introduced all over the place; airports, stadiums, etc.

Then I read an article that is pretty much going to put your average person into a panic.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continues to build cyberwarfare units and develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems as part of its information-warfare strategy, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) warned in a report released on Friday.

“The PLA has established information warfare units to develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems and networks,” the annual DOD report on China’s military warned. At the same, Chinese armed forces are developing ways to protect its own systems from an enemy attack, it said, echoing similar warnings made in previous years.

It makes it sound like this is something new and amazing. I remember reading about something similar with Osama Bin Laden was going to attack US computers using virus and DOS attacks. Hmmm. Sounds like a movie plot to me. I don’t recall what happened during the Cold War (I was a kid playing in the yard), but I bet there were similar articles related to Russia.

I think it’s time to get over it. It really doesn’t matter if other countries have the ability to attack others through computers. They also have big guns. The guy down the street probably has a rifle in the house. Not to mention the older woman that lives next door has a big Oldsmobile. Any one of these things can be used as a weapon. Their self control is keeping them from using it as such.

I think what is missing from the article is a mention to the fact that the US probably is doing the same thing as China. What is to stop the US government from writing computer viruses and planning cyber-attacks on other countries? What if this is just a tit-for-tat situation? You have that thing so I want my own too.