A Prepper Risk Assessment Chart
- Thread starter twp
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WolfBrother
Member
Can you imagine the rage turned outward?
As in, here we are trying to settle our problems and you people stick your nose in??? I don’t think so. Target, front sight, rear sight, squeeze, repeat.
As in, here we are trying to settle our problems and you people stick your nose in??? I don’t think so. Target, front sight, rear sight, squeeze, repeat.
Jerry D Young
Active Member
Total Civilian Disarmament
Punty
Well-Known Member
I think you may be very close to the mark, but I think you may be off on the nature of the war.
The war will be in cyberspace, attacking our infrastructure, such as power grid and possible the stock market, communications, things like that...and we will almost certainly lose.
The US has focused almost exclusively on offensive malware for cyber warfare, and defense is for all practical purposes non-existent, even to the extent that something along the lines of 80% of the software used in our military is still set to built in default passwords from the manufacturers.
No country is more dependent on a functioning information grid than the United States, and very few countries are as poorly defended from cyber attack. We were the first to really incorporate information technology, and grew rapidly, at a time when foreign cyber attacks were almost inconceivable, and a large portion of both our military and civilian infrastructure still uses that old architecture, with no significant built in defense.
Meanwhile, we are introducing a new "Space Force" branch of our military, while China and Russia have established "Cyber Force" branches of their military, dedicated exclusively to cyber warfare.
It's a case of always fighting the last war. We won't really grasp that the greatest weapon of mass destruction in the 21st century to date is a capable information warfare military branch......not planes or ships or satellites...keyboards and software.
My opinion, naturally, but an informed one.
@Punty So, what can we, as Preppers, do to protect ourselves from/during a "cyber war"?
My list in the OP (#1) above, does not have a category for "cyber war" and I'm considering adding it to the list.
I'd welcome suggestions on how to address this and how to make Prepper Plans around this Risk Factor.
My list in the OP (#1) above, does not have a category for "cyber war" and I'm considering adding it to the list.
I'd welcome suggestions on how to address this and how to make Prepper Plans around this Risk Factor.
Punty
Well-Known Member
Simple, same as prepping for anything else. Guns, gold, salt, and alternative locations.
Make sure your preps are not grid dependent. The example I always give is I have seen videos of guys including their phone and a battery bank as part of their preps. I mean...sure, you should have that stuff, but it doesn't belong in the "prep category". Prepping should be food, fire, water, shelter, medical needs, and protection, and none of these things should be grid dependent.
Anything grid dependant, like a smart phone, is a luxury, not a prep...regardless of how capable it is.
WolfBrother
Member
I am retired. I was a Senior Computer Nerd. A significant amount of time was spent making sure we had our security tight. We had all kinds of attempts by various countries to gain access.
My opinion - we are involved in a multi-front Cyber War. Attempting to gain access includes but is not limited to:
Russia
China
Iran
at one time Iraq
Pakistan
India
Israel
Great Britain
France
Germany
most other Middle Eastern Countries
groups within the US.
My opinion - we are involved in a multi-front Cyber War. Attempting to gain access includes but is not limited to:
Russia
China
Iran
at one time Iraq
Pakistan
India
Israel
Great Britain
France
Germany
most other Middle Eastern Countries
groups within the US.
Thanks for that report @WolfBrother, now we have Biden et al in nominal command (that's a joke folks) and the barn door is wide open with a storm coming... I'm so glad this forum is, hopefully, well below the radar horizon to those major malfactors. We are still exposed to "script kiddies" and idiots who attack for fun or money.
Being on the 'net, we are still at risk of it being taken down, either by our own government or others.
Being on the 'net, we are still at risk of it being taken down, either by our own government or others.
Steverino
Member
I would think there is a market for hosting that is free speech friendly...
A quick looksie finds:
https://www.ccihosting.com/ in Panama, popularly known for their total privacy laws. Since they only abide by Panamanian laws, all their clients have the right to total privacy. They are also full supporters of free speech.
https://abelohost.com/ in the Netherlands (#2 on the Press Freedom Index)
A quick looksie finds:
https://www.ccihosting.com/ in Panama, popularly known for their total privacy laws. Since they only abide by Panamanian laws, all their clients have the right to total privacy. They are also full supporters of free speech.
https://abelohost.com/ in the Netherlands (#2 on the Press Freedom Index)
soyer38301
Well-Known Member
As as soon to be retired "nerd" we are seeing a lot more attacks coming from the EU, mainly from Germany. The usual suspects from China (and their satellites).
Email attacks are way up....and I love it when they come in with such bad English and spelling that it is soooo obvious. But they always get someone to click...
Email attacks are way up....and I love it when they come in with such bad English and spelling that it is soooo obvious. But they always get someone to click...
Punty
Well-Known Member
Nah, that's just BS stuff, the sort of thing nations have been doing to one another forever.
I'm talking about doing things like hacking into the power grid and changing the Hertz frequencies of power stations, which would outright cause our entire grid to melt down...only by having the same Hertz frequency can you connect wires from one power plant with another, otherwise you short out the system.
You can literally cause the wires and electrical equipment to burst into flames and literally melt, all you have to do is tinker with the frequency that the power gets transmitted.
This is China's primary strategy against the US in their wargames. They figure they can win the war in just a few hours that way, and they are probably right.
North Korea has a different approach. Their approach is an EMP nuke. The thing is, that's super easy to make. It is just a bare bones nuke, without any neutron dense shielding around the core, so instead of getting a bigger boom, you get a lot of gamma rays..so an EMP bomb is the easiest nuke to develop and build.
And, those satellites that NK launched a couple of years back....those satellites were placed into an orbit that was the ideal trajectory and altitude for an EMP nuke to be most effective. That was the message being sent. "We can now take you out with one nuke." Realistically, you would need two to cover the entire United States, but one is plenty to take out everything east of the Mississippi.
...and that's why any prepping should focus on being non-grid dependant...basically whatever you have should be stuff that would have worked in the 19th century.
Because that is far and away the most likely scenario. No country is going to try to take us on militarily. But just about any country can take us down in just a few hours, and watch 70% of our population die over the course of the next year, just by taking down our grid...whether with a keyboard, or an EMP, and there is nothing we can do about it.
Jerry D Young
Active Member
Punty, I agree with you that the cyberattacks, along with HEMP attack, if the cyberattack does not immediately take down the grid, as well as some other infrastructure. I have believed this to be the case ever since they, and the other players, had the capability. I do still think that they will introduce at least tactical nukes in a couple of theatres, and I think they will hit us with their bunker-buster nukes to try and take out some key installations and deep continuation of government facilities. As far as a general nuke attack, maybe or maybe not. In any case, there will be fighting in the US between US and Chinese forces, if only those from the sovereign work-cities they have managed to talk our government into allowing them to build. These, I believe, to allow them to create incursion points, supply points, and 5th column support points.
I disagree about smartphones, however. My prepping smartphones and the tablet are set up to be independent of any grid, power, cell, or wifi internet. They are being used as stand-alone palm computers loaded with prepping information that can be used when mobile and in the field. As long as the internet is up and (relatively) safe, I will continue to use those services. Only one of them has the phone function active. It is the least capable of the smartphones, anyway, and will be the one that gets fried in an EMP event. The others are protected.
The protections I have incorporated for cyber security are:
1) Totally independent computer, and other electronic systems, that are not connected to the grid, with any software run through a couple of malware, spyware, and other destructive software protection software.
2) Constant monitoring of financial records (at the moment simply one bank with two accounts, both of which are kept with minimal balances, with deposits that are immediately used for bill payments, with the rest withdrawn within one or two days.
3) A couple of alternative communications systems and working on more.
4) Infrastructure alternatives not dependant on any type of grid or other infrastructure, except for their initial set up as I add a new one. This includes heat, cooking, refrigeration, sanitation, and so on.
5) Alternatives to grid and infrastructure transportation. Currently not very good ones, but I do have a couple.
6) Alternatives to conventional grid and infrastructure dependent medical care, equipment, and supplies. Also not very good ones, but I do have a couple of those, too.
7) Financial alternatives to the banking system. I do not have any, at the moment, other traditional financial links to any grid or infrastructure systems that deal with finances, money, credit, payments, accounts receivable, accounts payable, or 'traditional' investments. The only exception is Social Security, which, unfortunately, is my primary source of income.
8) A constant awareness of what could occur and the ramifications.
9) Continued monitoring of the financial system, infrastructure status, military status and activity (as best I can), US political situation, our coast and border status, and the international socio-political-military situations. None of which are as capable as I would like, but so far have given me warning of the major events that have occurred, with a few hours to a few days before they occur.
10) The means and knowledge to interfere with the destruction of our grid and infrastructures, to a small degree. This includes, but is not limited to who or what agency to contact if I suspect some action, activity, person, or event could be a danger to my area or the country. (I have done this twice in the last 20-years.)
There are probably some more things I will remember, but those are the ones that popped into my head when I read the posts.
Just my opinions.
I disagree about smartphones, however. My prepping smartphones and the tablet are set up to be independent of any grid, power, cell, or wifi internet. They are being used as stand-alone palm computers loaded with prepping information that can be used when mobile and in the field. As long as the internet is up and (relatively) safe, I will continue to use those services. Only one of them has the phone function active. It is the least capable of the smartphones, anyway, and will be the one that gets fried in an EMP event. The others are protected.
The protections I have incorporated for cyber security are:
1) Totally independent computer, and other electronic systems, that are not connected to the grid, with any software run through a couple of malware, spyware, and other destructive software protection software.
2) Constant monitoring of financial records (at the moment simply one bank with two accounts, both of which are kept with minimal balances, with deposits that are immediately used for bill payments, with the rest withdrawn within one or two days.
3) A couple of alternative communications systems and working on more.
4) Infrastructure alternatives not dependant on any type of grid or other infrastructure, except for their initial set up as I add a new one. This includes heat, cooking, refrigeration, sanitation, and so on.
5) Alternatives to grid and infrastructure transportation. Currently not very good ones, but I do have a couple.
6) Alternatives to conventional grid and infrastructure dependent medical care, equipment, and supplies. Also not very good ones, but I do have a couple of those, too.
7) Financial alternatives to the banking system. I do not have any, at the moment, other traditional financial links to any grid or infrastructure systems that deal with finances, money, credit, payments, accounts receivable, accounts payable, or 'traditional' investments. The only exception is Social Security, which, unfortunately, is my primary source of income.
8) A constant awareness of what could occur and the ramifications.
9) Continued monitoring of the financial system, infrastructure status, military status and activity (as best I can), US political situation, our coast and border status, and the international socio-political-military situations. None of which are as capable as I would like, but so far have given me warning of the major events that have occurred, with a few hours to a few days before they occur.
10) The means and knowledge to interfere with the destruction of our grid and infrastructures, to a small degree. This includes, but is not limited to who or what agency to contact if I suspect some action, activity, person, or event could be a danger to my area or the country. (I have done this twice in the last 20-years.)
There are probably some more things I will remember, but those are the ones that popped into my head when I read the posts.
Just my opinions.
I agree with you @Punty except I do not think that starting a revolution and civil war is childs play. If they can cause enough confusion and mayhem by doing that to allow us to become less of a threat by what appears to be our own doing all of those nation states benefit. I think that we have all read about the Chinese and Russian "schools" where they have thousands of "kids" hacking into everything and anything. I am sure there is a good deal of them concentrating on the grid, but I know for a fact they also have serious dis-information campaigns being run out of there. Even the dumbest students are given a job of spamming websites like this as practice.
I agree that keeping an electronic tool kit off the grid is vitally important. While having the old school tools and a survival library are indeed important, there are so many things that computers can do to raise your prepping to higher levels that it is foolish to not use them.
Punty
Well-Known Member
Nothing they do can compare to what we are doing to ourselves in regards to propaganda and censorship. They don't have to spend a penny, just sit back and laugh at us. We are self radicalizing, no outside influence required. All we need is MSNBC.
I mean...Mexico is concerned about censorship in America.....Mexico!!
