The media couldn't find enough to report?

Rob Rosenberger, Vmyths co-founder
Tuesday, 18 September 2001

SECURITY DEMIGOD BRUCE Schneier (Counterpane) watched media-borne virus hype as it tried to emerge from the rubble of the World Trade Center. "All day [on the day of the attack] I fielded phone calls from reporters looking for the 'computer security angle' to the story."

If a 14yr-old ever forces you to choose between the Sears Tower or the Internet, you'd be wise to save the Internet. We can easily recover from a skyscraper collapse, but we'll never recover from the death of the Internet...

Hmmm. The media couldn't find enough to report?

"I couldn't find [a security angle]," Schneier admitted, "although I expect several to come out of the aftermath." He then proceeded to outline various concerns — all tied to our knee-jerk desire to give up a lot of freedom in exchange for a little perceived safety. The demigod known as Schneier doesn't seem worried about an "electronic Pearl Harbor" or an "e-Jihad."

If reporters want to speculate on such tripe, they'll need to look elsewhere for a hysterical expert.

And what a coincidence! A story posted a story on CNN's website with hysterical quotes from multiple mouthpieces:

Officials at the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), located at FBI headquarters, gathered for an emergency meeting to collect and analyze all available cyberintelligence information, said Navy Rear Adm. James Plehal, the deputy director of the NIPC. Meanwhile, Marv Langston, former deputy CIO at the Defense Department, viewed Tuesday's terrorist attacks as an act of war and warned that they could be followed by a series of cyberattacks. Langston said the U.S. needs to prepare itself for what he described as an "electronic Pearl Harbor."
Air Force Lt. Gen. Retired Al Edmonds, now head of the Electronic Data Systems Inc., federal division, said "I would suspect a cyberattack could be next, and that would be absolutely paralyzing." In the 1990s, the Pentagon produced a series of studies that showed that a cyberattack on computer and communication systems could cripple the U.S. as severely as a physical attack.

Yeah, you can just forget about that piddly little World Trade Center attack someday. A terrorist doesn't need to die in an aircraft hijacking, you know. He could release a devastating über-virus from the comfort of his parents' basement, the likes of which we've never seen before. Why, a terrorist über-virus could hurl our society back to ... to ... the transistor age!

The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center rushed to action three days after the attack to warn cyber-terrorists not to mess with the United States of America. "[Renaming] the life_stages.txt.shs virus [to] wtc.txt.vbs to appear to be related to the World Trade Center ... is illegal and punishable as a felony, with penalties extending to five years in prison." Boy, that'll scare 'em.

(Hmmm. FBI NIPC learned the hard way about double-extension exploits. How can you call it a felony if antivirus firms don't care enough to protect their own customers five years after hackers discovered this well-known threat?)

FBI NIPC rushed to action three days after the attack to warn cyber-terrorists not to mess with the United States of America.

IF A 14YR-OLD ever forces you to choose between the Sears Tower or the Internet, you'd be wise to save the Internet. We can easily recover from a skyscraper collapse, but we'll never recover from the death of the Internet. It's far more important to the day-to-day functioning of our society.

The downfall of the World Trade Center pales in comparison to the downfall of the Internet. Or at least that's what the computer security fearmongers want you to believe...