Technology

COMPUTERS VIRUS ATTACKING AMERICA

Whether it is people from America, Canada, South America or another part of the world, when they wake up in the morning they will use one or a number of the following items: an alarm clock, electric lights, electric toothbrush, trimmers, shavers, blow dryer, curling or straightening iron, radio, television, computer or cell phones, and all of this within the first hour of their day. We all have become so accustomed to electronic gadgets that we would not know what to do without them. Could teachers, and or the students, survive the hand written essays? Is it possible for the retail business to survive without their electronic cash registers? Could a government run their country without computer systems? How would the banking system survive? The world of technology has made life so wonderfully easy for this entire country; we have allowed ourselves to become dependent on them; we have gotten to the point that we cannot function without them and this makes the most powerful country in the world susceptible to being brought down to its knees.

If anyone wanted to put this country into a complete frenzy and possibly paralyze it, one of the best weapons available could be a new computer virus, or an improvement on an existing one. This virus simultaneously could be sent out to attack the computers of American banks; eventually the Federal Reserve would be infected with the virus. Can the computer system of the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States be penetrated with an infection? Is there a possibility that this could happen: yes; because it has happened in the past. On May 4, 2000, a virus known as the "Love Bug" was released through the email system. This virus was first released in the Philippines. Included in those infected were the British House of Commons, Barklay Banks, British Telecom, the BBC and News International; in Denmark, Parliament, ministries and major television companies were affected; the Swiss government and several of their banks had to shut down their computer systems. In the United States, several congressmen fell for the "I love you" messages sent to them via email; when they opened them the virus attached itself to their system. Congress had to shut down their email system. Some U.S. military bases, government offices, the C.I.A. and even the White House were affected by the Love Bug virus. Stephen R. Malphrus, director of management for the Federal Reserve U.S. Bank, stated the virus didn't affect the key financial services of the bank, but he did go on to say one of the reasons for this was the virus reached the United States before most businesses, governments and financial institutions were opened. News of the virus and how it was spread had reached them before it had the opportunity to infiltrate their system. Mr. Malphrus stated "Future viruses may be more difficult to contain" ("Testimony of Stephen R Malphrus"). This one virus infected over 45 million computers at a cost of 1 to 1 Ð'Ð... billion dollars per day to the business world; it does not include the computers used in the homes of American citizens. This could have been even more devastating for the United States had the virus originated on our soil.

There are many anti-virus programs out there, but according to the website Computer Knowledge there are well over 100,000 known computer viruses. With this many viruses how long will it take Al-Qaeda to start terrorist virus attacks? There are terrorist that live in the United States and other countries that have access to the internet. Therefore the terrorist throughout the world do not have to set off bombs. They do not have to kill anyone. What is the best way to hurt a capitalistic country? How do you cut the life line that makes America run? Stop the flow of money. Paul Kennedy in his essay The Electronic Gap, states "In the Arab states, only one person in 500 has Internet access, while in Africa only one person in 1,000 is an Internet user" (349). We know through the news media the terrorist of the Middle East have access to the news and to internet services. The internet usage in the Middle East, according to Internet World Stats, between the years of 2000 to 2006 has increased 479.3%. The statistic for individual countries is even more astounding. In Saudi Arabia the internet usage went up 1,170%, in Yemen 1,366%, United Emirates 90% and Lebanon 133% . These are the countries who brought forth the terrorist that helped bring down the World Trade Center. The threat of terrorism is real; the threat of a terrorist virus on America's computer system is just as real.

Banks keep America and most of the world working. If banks, companies, governments and individuals are not allowed to obtain their liquid assets for immediate transactions the world as we know it would come to a stand still. For example, a company could not order a product from a vendor because there could not be a guarantee of payment. The banks could not extend lines of credit in a timely manner. Hard copies of individual transactions would have to be viewed. Most hardcopies are in storage somewhere or on microfiche. By the time a bank representative finds and interprets the information the business deal could be gone. Individual consumers could not purchase anything unless they carry cash and even cash is not a guarantee of purchase. The worth of the American dollar could not be established. Large ticket items such as homes, cars, appliances could not be bought or sold. A bank would have to approve the loan and the bank would not be able to do so. Debit and credit cards would not function. America would be at the mercy of their IT people to try to figure out how to kill the virus or viruses that would be killing the American economy.

In his essay, Fear, the New Virus of a Connected Era, Michiko Kakutani states, "Among the things that can be viewed on the Web today are recruitment videos from Al Qaeda and terrorist tradecraft tips from Osama bin Laden's followers, who have proven themselves remarkably adept at using the Internet to spread their message around the world." (370) These websites should prove to the world that the terrorist are communicating openly without fear of repercussions; they want men and women to join the terrorist movement. They are recruiting people that are obviously computer literate and are part of the internet community. Thomas L. Friedman in Webbed, Wired, and Worried wrote "For instance, the 9/11 hijackers may have