Short answer is it's bogus.
The Weekly World News isn't know for it's ability to accurately
report the news. Some people go so far as to say they dream up
their news. As for the rest of the stuff in the article, I just
don't see how it's possible.
sihaya wrote:
>
> Hi all!
>
> I realize this is way off topic but I didn't know where else to ask for
> an opinion.
>
> I was sent this URL and article (below) as part of a security
> newsletter and it seems a bit farfetched to say the least. Please
> forgive me if this seems like a 'weeny'-type question: Is this article
> supposed to be for real?
>
> Thanks in advance!
> -----------------------------
> Posted 05/04/2000 1:45am by Thomas C. Greene in Washington
>
> Hackers can make your PC explode
>
> Hackers can now turn your home computer into a bomb and blow your
> family to
> smithereens, and do so remotely from thousands of miles away, the
> Weekly World
> News reports.
>
> The recent DDoS attacks which paralysed the Amazon, Buy.com and eBAY
> Web
> sites are tame compared to what will happen in the near future, the
> paper warns.
>
> Computer expert Arnold Yabenson, president of the Washington-based
> consumer
> group National CyberCrime Prevention Foundation (NCPF), says that
> we've only seen
> the tip of the iceberg.
>
> "It is already possible for an assassin to send someone an e-mail with
> an
> innocent-looking attachment. When the receiver downloads the
> attachment, the
> electrical current and molecular structure of the central processing
> unit is altered,
> causing it to blast apart like a large hand grenade," the paper quotes
> Yabenson as
> saying.
>
> "The criminals who knocked out those on-line businesses are the least
> of our worries,"
> Yabenson said.
>
> "There are brilliant but unscrupulous hackers out there who have
> developed
> technologies that the average person can't even dream of. Even people
> who are
> familiar with how computers work have trouble getting their minds
> around the terrible
> things that can be done."
>
> "As shocking as this is, it shouldn't surprise anyone. It's just the
> next step in an
> ever-escalating progression of horrors conceived and instituted by
> hackers," he
> warned.
>
> Yabenson points out that these "dangerous sociopaths" have already
> vandalised FBI
> and US Army Web sites, and have come within two digits of cracking an
> 87-digit
> Russian security code that would have sent deadly missiles hurtling
> toward five of
> America's major cities, the paper notes.
>
> "As dangerous as this technology is right now, it's going to get much
> scarier,"
> Yabenson said. "Soon it will be sold to terrorists cults and fanatical
> religious-fringe
> groups. Instead of blowing up a single plane, these groups will be
> able to patch into
> the central computer of a large airline and blow up hundreds of planes
> at once."
>
> The Register had hoped to interview Yabenson for clarification of just
> how the planes
> would be made to explode. Perhaps via embedded microprocessors whose
> molecular structure could be altered remotely, as with the previously
> described e-mail
> attachment, we were thinking.
>
> But alas, a Web search for the NCPF yielded only the North Carolina
> Psychological
> Foundation, which, as we consider it, might have a few valuable
> insights into this story
> after all... �
>
> Register historic factoid: Reader Dale Hubbard claims that back in
> 1980 you could
> make a Sharp MZ80K smoke, "and sometimes even flame. This was
> accomplished
> by writing a program in assembler that would activate/deactivate the
> cassette relay
> switch in a very swift toggle motion. The resultant friction could
> certainly warm up the
> relay." Thank you, Dale. A well mispent youth.
>
> -
> [To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
> "unsubscribe firewalls" in the body of the message.]
--
| Bryan Andersen | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://softail.visi.com |
| Buzzwords are like annoying little flies that deserve to be swatted. |
| -Bryan Andersen |
-
[To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
"unsubscribe firewalls" in the body of the message.]
