-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- [ To: cypherpunks ## Date: 10/30/97 ## Subject: Re: Infastructure Protection and Paranoia ]
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 23:35:41 -0800 From: Bill Stewart <stewarts@ix.netcom.com> Subject: Re: Infastructure Protection and Paranoia
At this year's CFP one evening we were playing the game of "You want to cause maximum disruption to the US infrastructure, and you've got 100 small explosive devices. Where do you put them?" Much creativity was displayed and substantial amounts of testosterone reveled in, and the overall conclusion was that we'd be in deep trouble if anybody even vaguely competent wanted to monkeywrench the system.
I agree. This has always been my reaction to the infowar folks--anyone who understands how to attack a system can look around and find hundreds of fairly easy targets. Some of these targets just *can't* be protected in a cost-effective way. (Note the way the IRA and various Palestinian terrorists still manage to find soft targets, despite the fact that their intended victims have spent years and millions of dollars hardening the obvious soft points.)
After that, we played the Russell-Brand-like game of "Destruction is easy. What would you do if you wanted to create the most joy in the world instead." That was harder :-)
Of course. Any moron with a hammer can ruin a car engine; it takes a skilled mechanic to fix one. The same applies almost everywhere--destroying something takes a fraction of the skill of building or maintaining it.
Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, stewarts@ix.netcom.com Regular Key PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639
--John Kelsey, Counterpane Systems, kelsey@counterpane.com PGP 2.6 fingerprint = 4FE2 F421 100F BB0A 03D1 FE06 A435 7E36 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBNFje30Hx57Ag8goBAQFORgQAtfPNvbzHvsVQXTO8OY7VmKwmyqxWB5By w+WPU4YCMWq8DWG6OywWsK9VoPGePPTZSUhtVd/PXV0lZs/jSbJZoFUYNVM7kscR SA581vMenUYM74Uryut2gTAgUORjvrSLtfM1cm5/sIVGfNefTvmo5VMQzye7gh7d 89SW0QFzo/o= =YmO9 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --John Kelsey, Counterpane Systems, kelsey@counterpane.com PGP 2.6 fingerprint = 4FE2 F421 100F BB0A 03D1 FE06 A435 7E36