Tag Archives: cyberattack

Sci-Tech

Amidst Waves of Data Breaches, U.S. Gov Advised Agencies: Implement Zero Trust Architecture

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It’s been nearly two years since arguments and questions kept rising following the FAA outage that happened on January 11th, 2023, which resulted in the complete closure of the U.S. Airspace and most of the airspace here in Canada.

Although the FAA later confirmed that the outage was, in fact, caused by a contractor who unintentionally damaged a data file related to the Notices to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, the authenticity of the fact is still debated. 

The FAA initially urged airlines to ground domestic departures following the system glitch Credit: Reuters

“The FAA said it was due to one corrupted file – who believes this? Are there no safeguards against one file being corrupted, bringing everything down? Billions of Dollars are being spent on cybersecurity, yet this is going on – are there any other files that could be corrupted?” questions Walt Szablowski, Founder and Executive Chairman of Eracent, a company that specializes in providing IT and cybersecurity solutions to large organizations such as the USPS, Visa, U.S. Airforce, British Ministry of Defense — and dozens of Fortune 500 companies.

There has been a string of cybersecurity breaches across some high-profile organizations.

Last year, on January 19th, T-Mobile disclosed that a cyberattacker stole personal data pertaining to 37 million customers, December 2022 saw a trove of data on over 200 million Twitter users circulated among hackers. In November 2022, a hacker posted a dataset to BreachForums containing up-to-date personal information of 487 million WhatsApp users from 84 countries.

The Ponemon Institute in its 2021 Cost of a Data Breach Report analyzed data from 537 organizations around the world that had suffered a data breach. Note all of the following figures are in US dollars. They found that healthcare ($9.23 million ), financial ($5.72 million), pharmaceutical ($5.04 million), technology ($4.88 million), and energy organizations ($4.65 million) suffered the costliest data breaches.

The average total cost of a data breach was estimated to be $3.86 million in 2020, while it increased to $4.24 million in 2021.

“In the software business, 90% of the money is thrown away on software that doesn’t work as intended or as promised,” argues Szablowski. “Due to the uncontrollable waves of costly network and data breaches, the U.S. Federal Government is mandating the implementation of the Zero Trust Architecture.“

Eracent’s ClearArmor Zero Trust Resource Planning (ZTRP) consolidates and transforms the concept of Zero Trust Architecture into a complete implementation within an organization.

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“Relying on the latest technology will not work if organizations do not evolve their thinking. Tools and technology alone are not the answer. Organizations must design a cybersecurity system that fits and supports each organization’s unique requirements,” concludes Szablowski. For the Silo, Karla Jo Helms.

Military

EMP Pulse Attack Would Cripple North American Energy Grids

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EMP Attacks: Expert William Forstchen Describes Cataclysmic Impact

Washington, D.C., 2023 — An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack above the center of North America would cripple the already vulnerable energy grid, wiping out power and setting off a cascade of deadly events. But just how real is the threat?

“I believe the threat of America being hit by an EMP weapon is the single greatest danger to the survival of [North] America,” said William R. Forstchen, Ph.D.

Widely considered one of the foremost experts on EMP attacks, Forstchen has been consulted by agencies within the American federal and state governments and has spoken at conferences all over the United States.

Forstchen has also written extensively about the devastating impact of EMP strikes, beginning with his New York Times bestseller, One Second After, a realistic look at a weapon and its awesome power to destroy the entire United States and Canada, literally within one second.

One Second After immerses readers in the terrifying concept of an EMP attack, prompting discussions regarding:

  • The frightening specifics about EMP
  • The societal impact of an EMP attack
  • Hour-by-hour, day-by-day, month-by-month details on the effect an EMP attack would have on a community
  • What, if anything, can be done to protect people and the country against an EMP attack?
  • If EMP is such a threat, why aren’t we preparing?
  • The serious threats facing America regarding physical and cyberattacks on our nation’s infrastructure

The publication of One Second After spawned a series that includes One Year After, The Final Day and the upcoming book, Five Years Later. A feature film based on One Second After is currently being developed.

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“EMP is a byproduct of detonating a nuclear weapon,” Forstchen said in an interview. “If you detonate a weapon 200-250 miles above the center of the United States … the gamma ray burst when it hits the upper atmosphere starts a chain reaction. … By the time this hits the earth’s surface at the speed of light, it is a giant electrostatic discharge … it blows out the entire power grid of the United States and Canada. Game over.”

William R. Forstchen is a New York Times bestselling author and holds a doctoral degree from Purdue University with a specialization in military history and technology. He is a noted expert historian and public speaker and has been interviewed on FOX News, C-SPAN, and Coast to Coast on topics ranging from history to technology and cultural issues, to space technology development, to security threats.