Network Infultration from Millions of MIles Away.

At article in the NYTimes talks about a research paper written by Wang Jianwei, a graduate engineering student in Liaoning, and a professor called “Cascade-Based Attack Vulnerability on the U.S. Power Grid,” is being interpretted in two different ways. Larry M. Wortzel, a military strategist and China specialist, says the paper should be of U.S. concern because it explains “how to attack a small U.S. power grid sub-network in a way that would cause a cascading failure of the entire U.S." Mr. Wang however claimed he was simply finding ways to enhance the stability of power grids by exploring potential vulnearabilities. “My goal is to find a solution to the network safer and better protected,” Wang said.

Mr. Wang was merely an innocent subject caught in the middle of cyberwarfare between the U.S. and China. The United States grid was chosen for his study because he said it was the easiest way to go. “I just wanted to do theretical research,” he said. “I chose the electricity system because the grid can best represent how power currents flow through a network.

It was however unfortunate to Mr. Wang because of the perception among Americans that rivals are likely to attack critical infrastructure, such as the U.S. electric grid. When Mr. Wotzel gave a testamony about this to the House of Representatives, one representative from California alluded to in 2001 when The Los Angeles Times reported intrusions into the network were connected to someone in Guangdong Province, China. Tension also escalated earlier this year when Google made threats to stop business with China after asserting to have evidence of Chinese involvement in a sophisticated Internet intrusion. Mr. Wotzel told the House that the intentions of researchers of Wang’s paper did not matter. The concern was the “vulnerability is out there all over China for anybody to advantage of.” Wang’s paper showed that “even a misunderstanding has the potential to escalate tension and set off an overreaction.”

This may mean many things in the future of the Digital Age. In the sense of globalization, technology can help us feel more connected around the world. However, it may also provide us with more way to be hostile towards one another. Wang’s paper, whether intended or not, confirms that someone on the otherside of the world could infiltrate the power grid of my town. This would be worse than your typical WORM or exe document viruses. Whats most intimidating about it is it can be so easy to get a way with too. All someone has to do is stealthily sit in the safety of their home and let their fingers work.

Even if infultration wouldn’t result in consequences too fatal to our network, just the thought of infultration itself may induce fear into the U.S. citizens. This could produce more mean world syndrome where the people may nag this to be a bigger deal than it is. John Auquilla, director of a Information Operations Center, says this war of words holds great peril due to the conflict between the U.S. and China in the past months. “Dense commuinications across many different links can have effects that are unpredictable,” he said. “Cyberwarfare in some way analogues to the way people think about biological weapons – that once you set loose such a weapon it may be very hard to control where it goes.” You never know, the next link you click on may be your last click before your computer shuts down forever.

This may also encourage technical specialists to attempt to find more ways and methods to secure our network. That be the case, then Wang’s said goals for writing the paper would be successful.