Spam, phishing, and malware are far more than e-nuisances. These somewhat crafty schemes are signs and symptoms that anyone, anywhere, can not only plant – but execute – anything they desire on your IT network, or take control of your IT-controlled operating procedures (SCADA) to cause physical misoperation and sabotage of valves, switches, breakers, critical of life-safety operating processes etc. The witted adversary can use your resources, your name, and, in many case, he can do whatever he wants on your computer. Code to control another computer is easy to download and install on another machine. Once an adversary gets access to your PC’s next instruction, he owns the future actions of that machine, and can usually go unnoticed by you, the machine owner.
Imagine that the adversary is not a person, but a company or government, seeking to obtain data from or impose damage upon another entity. The methods are fairly simple, the tools are readily available (botnet code can be downloaded and the slave machines can be “rented” more easily than cars). Computers are effectively a new form of soldier and electronic systems can do massive harm with little effort. Computers are fast, but they are not smart. They simply follow their list of instructions, with no regard to how those instructions were provided, or any sense of intent.
Read on if you dare.....
