Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in Tx

[Texastransplant]

Saw this comment when reading about the Mumbai/Bombay bombing attack today.

"Yesterday, I drove down to the city to get some chinese takeout and on SH-146 was a message board warning drivers of 9-11 style attacks. Telling people to report suspicious activity.
I live in a gas and oil producing area. No one is taking this lightly. But I learned early to watch out for my brother and my back would be watched as well. The police are on edge here for some reason too. Some are practically frantic. Something’s up. I hope I’m wrong."

Then comments about Texas City, League City and Baytown. I am new to Texas but I realize allt he refineries are down there.

Anyone down that way know anything about it?

 

[lalonguecarabine]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

Interesting.

This deserves further "google-fu".

 

[TrailDust]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

Have not seen any news reports, but take it from someone well versed in the cyber world that a "cyber Pearl Harbor" is a very real threat. Only reason the radical Islamists have not conducted an attack to date is that the terrorist leadership did not fully understand the capabilities and power of the cyber world, and so have not marshaled hackers in their part of the world. However, they are moving in that direction now, so I'd offer some advice to make sure you're prepared sooner than later to survive long-term power outages and other disruptions due to a cyber attack on the U.S.

 

[Jakashh]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

What's the skinny on this sitch?

 

[lalonguecarabine]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

There's several law enforcement types on this forum.
If they know of anything, I can almost guarantee they won't say jack s***!

 

[TrailDust]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

What's the skinny on this sitch?

Specify.

There's several law enforcement types on this forum.
If they know of anything, I can almost guarantee they won't say jack s***!

True, as with anything that is highly classified, sensitive information can't be shared. That being said, the vast majority of computer users function at a level where almost half don't even have basic antivirus software or a firewall, so their understanding of the cyber threat is equally weak. People keep running around worrying about bird flu, meteors from space, or far out EMP attacks, when IMO the greatest threat is a coordinated and highly focused cyber attack.

 

[Wolfwood]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

the average joe blow doesn't have much to worry about as far as having his pc being targeted by crackers.


what needs to be looked at is banks, power companies, and other infrastructural systems. those are the targets for pro crackers.

if there was a mass attack on the US it wouldn't be directed at random individuals. the terrorists dont give a damn about your private collection of porn or your half finished sub par novel. they want to shutdown the power. turn off GPS sattelites, important shit. at most, you might want to worry about your bank information - even then most of that is SSL, anyhtign short of a keylogger isn't going to be much of a threat. most malware that goes in this direction is run by organized crime types. not jihadists.


and guys, im not usually one to mince words, but Hackers aren't the guys ya'll are worried about. it is Crackers. they are the malicious types. Hackers are the guys who INVENTED the internet (not al gore LoL) brought us things like UNIX and LINUX and APACHE etc etc. IOW the good guys...

will find you a link

 

[ROGER4314]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

I live in the area and saw the message boards on the highway. It says to report all suspicious activities. It's good advice for anyone living here but I'm not ready to hit the bunkers just yet.

It would be foolish to attack an area that is so well trained and equipped to respond. These folks have their act together and surrounding communities and companies mobilize equipment and manpower immediately when there is an incident. Even competitor companies rush their own trained crews to the site as do all the area municipal fire fighters if needed. Per square foot, there are more trained fire fighters and fire fighting equipment here than anywhere else I've seen.

The teamwork is impressive and the local companies have "rally points" established so workers know exactly where to go if an explosion occurs so they can be accounted for and organized to fight the fires or sent home. When an explosion occurs, the system begins ticking like a watch.

Terrorists thrive on chaos and fear. Explosions are routine, here. Would disruption of production hurt? Sure, but these folks rebuild refinery and chemical plants for a living. Rest easy.

Flash

 

[Wolfwood]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

Hacker vs. cracker | TechRepublic

 

[MuddyWaterMan]

Hope not! I'm sitting in Texas City along side a ship tonight and get off the boat tomorrow.... I'll keep my eyes peeled though! LOL

 

[nalioth]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

How did this thread go from this (roadside message board on SH-146):

to this (cyber warfare)?

This was a rhetorical question.

 

[Jakashh]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

Specify.

Well I read your OP and was confused as to what it meant, as i've had the longest brain fart ever today and can't comprehend worth shit lol.

But the more I read, apparently some terrorists want to blow up refineries in Baytown... or hack some computers? I'm not quite catching on to the big picture.

 

[Texas1911]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

Jakashh you need to be a young, impressionable, youth that loves muhammed and go infiltrate all these organizations and give us a heads-up.

 

[Wolfwood]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

^^ +1 tx1911

lol


this reminds me of Red Storm Rising.

some terrorist guys blow up a soviet refinery. basically causes a war of soviet aggression as they basically have no choice but to try to re-take european countries to keep from going totally financially belly up. goooooooooood read. those of you that have the time to read a book should pick it up at half price fro like 2 bucks.

 

[Jakashh]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

Jakashh you need to be a young, impressionable, youth that loves muhammed and go infiltrate all these organizations and give us a heads-up.

lol wut

You want me to spy on the tolly-bon? They threatened to kill our cousins in Pakistan if they didn't convert to crazy Islam haha

Oh yeah, and I look more Filipino, Hispanic, and Asian than I do Pakistani lol

 

[TrailDust]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

What Wolfwood said is correct...100%. Some people may think the attacks are coming to their home computer, but that is the realm of organized crime and 13-year-olds with poor social skills. True cyber attacks will come in the form of attacks on infrastructure, and it doesn't take much relatively speaking to destroy power plants, pipelines, or even cause an environmental catastrophe by opening a few valves, all conducted with just a few dozen lines of code. In fact, a non-criminal example of how much damage can be done occurred in Russia just last year when hundreds of millions of dollars in generators were completely destroyed at a hydroelectric dam when a technician started up a generator that had been taken offline due to problems, which resulted in the generator vibrating to destruction and taking the other generators with it. Again, although not a cyber attack, it represents what can happen if electric power generation is attacked: With just a few dozen lines of code an electrical generator can be destroyed by switching it rapidly on and off.

The most sophisticated cyber attacks are coming from China, and I'm here to tell you those people are good! And now with the Islamists gearing up for cyber attacks, a 9/11 type attack on the U.S. is very plausible. I've stocked up extra fuel for my generator for just such a regional or nationwide event. Be prepared or be screwed.

 

[Wolfwood]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

most of those systems are completely offline.

"Sneaker Net" is the only network capable of importing malicious code in most cases.

 

[Rum Runner]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

and guys, im not usually one to mince words, but Hackers aren't the guys ya'll are worried about. it is Crackers. they are the malicious types. Hackers are the guys who INVENTED the internet (not al gore LoL) brought us things like UNIX and LINUX and APACHE etc etc. IOW the good guys...

Ummm No.

Hacker vs. cracker | TechRepublic

That article is totally wrong.
1) MIT's first use is documented here: http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/internet-find/first-recorded-usage-of-hacker-from-mit-paper-in-1963/
2) A "Hacker" is someone who "hacks" their way into a secure system. (phone, computer, etc.)
3) A "Cracker" is someone who breaks the copy protection on a piece of software. (at least when not used as a racial slur lol)

Any attempt to pervert the term "hacker" into a non-pejorative context is done by someone who either has no clue or is too young to have been personally involved over three decades ago.

Edit: This is similar to the modern use of phrases like "an historic event". Just because modern culture has screwed it up due to ignorance, doesnt make it right.

 

[Clockwork]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

Ummm No.



That article is totally wrong.
1) MIT's first use is documented here: http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/internet-find/first-recorded-usage-of-hacker-from-mit-paper-in-1963/
2) A "Hacker" is someone who "hacks" their way into a secure system. (phone, computer, etc.)
3) A "Cracker" is someone who breaks the copy protection on a piece of software. (at least when not used as a racial slur lol)

Any attempt to pervert the term "hacker" into a non-pejorative context is done by someone who either has no clue or is too young to have been personally involved over three decades ago.

Edit: This is similar to the modern use of phrases like "an historic event". Just because modern culture has screwed it up due to ignorance, doesnt make it right.

Actually Wolfwood was right. The term 'Hacker' is bastardized to mean someone that wants to do malicious things do you through their computer the same way that 'Liberal' is bastardized to mean Progressive. True hackers are not malicious and are only interested in the free exchange of thoughts and ideas, not taking down your power grid.

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

Re: Anyone see the Message board warning of 9-11 style attacks near the refineries in

On the cyber stuff...

NERC and FERC have standards that speak to this. There's security measures and standards that are supposed to be in place.

The control systems are also separate from your typical corporate/organization network. Someone would have to gain physical access in most cases to mess with the turning anything off or on.

EDIT: There are some SCADA systems that are vulnerable, so this isn't an absolute.