Author Archives: Missy_Munoz

British Secretary of Defence: UK faces 1K cyber attacks annually

Via the  Telegraph, their correspondent James Kirkup reports that Liam Fox, the UK’s Secretary of Defence (Defense, if you prefer), has sais that “The Ministry of Defence is facing “cyberwar” attacks on a daily basis.”

Warning that Britain is now in continuous combat with an “invisible enemy” in cyberspace, the Defence Secretary said that the MoD last year detected and blocked more than 1,000 “potentially serious” attempts to infiltrate or disrupt its computer systems.

Speaking to the London Chambers of Commerce defence industry dinner, Dr Fox said electronic attacks on Britain doubled from 2009 to 2010. “There is a continuous battle being waged against us, day in, day out,” he said. Dr Fox’s remarks are the latest Government warning about the scale and severity of electronic attacks on sensitive State computer networks. George Osborne, the Chancellor, last month said that Government computers are receiving more than 20,000 malicious email attacks every month. .

The MoD and its highly sensitive electronic networks are a prime target for people trying to steal secrets or damage critical systems.

“Our systems are targeted by criminals, foreign intelligence services and other malicious actors seeking to exploit our people, corrupt our systems and steal information,” Dr Fox said. “The risks to defence are real, and I take them very seriously.”

 

 

Silent Spring: Enduring, Legendary

Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson

Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson

In 1962 with a formal background in biology, countless publications for the Bureau of Fisheries and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Rachel Carson added to her volumes of work Silent Spring

, arguably the most enduring, controversial, and legendary books of the modern Sustainability Era.

Doubting her ability to find a magazine willing to publish a single article on the pessimistic topic of the effect of chemicals on the environment, Carson decided instead to produce a full length book.  Serialized in the New Yorker (desribed at the NRDC) prior to the 1962 publication, Silent Spring

quickly became the focus of incredible public attention. Coupled with this growing attention, the chemical industry responded to Silent Spring with a focused quarter-million-dollar campaign aiming to discredit Carson.  Despite the concerted effort by the chemical industry, a Presidential commission began looking into the issues – and Congress began considering tougher restrictions on chemicals. (Carson testified before Congress.)

Poignantly, Silent Spring is essentially a survey of research on pesticides, begins artistically with a story depicting a town having suffered a series of plagues. At the end of this chapter, Carson tells us that the town is fictitious, however, she adds that each of the events recounted “has actually happened somewhere.”

Lending substance to the original story, Carson goes on to describe the source of the plagues as newly designed man-made chemicals applied in massive quantities almost everywhere.  In doing this Carson introduces the singular analogy that runs through Silent Spring: “pesticides are like atomic radiation—invisible, with deadly effects that often manifest themselves only after a long delay.” Further, she identifies the qualities that are increasing the danger of these new chemicals/pesticides over their predecessors:

  1. Greater chemical potency
  2. Slower breakdown and decomposition of the chemicals
  3. A tendency for the chemicals to become concentrated in fatty tissue.

For Carson, it is also important to note that while a toxin may not constitute a severe danger in limited exposure and dose, danger occurs with ultimate accumulation in the body, and concentration up the food chain.

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