GhostNet Conspiracy Countdown!

[Jontg]

So, how long will it take until somebody starts incorporating the GhostNet program into the CT zeitgeist? A week? A day? Has it already happened? I'm writing from the student lounge, so obviously I can't check ATS myself--anybody care to go fishing?

[Alareth]

GhostNet?

[Ohnoes]

GhostNet?

He is referring to this...
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/30/ghostnet.cyber.espionage/index.html

[garethdjb]

Inevitably there is a thread on ATS about it.

[SkepticGuy]

Inevitably there is a thread on ATS about it.
Indeed. However, it has teeth.

The story on ATS is by the same person who broke the story about the FBI's serious concern over counterfeit routers (http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread350381/pg1) being built in China and installed in secure networks in the US and elsewhere. (picked up and sourced by NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/technology/09cisco.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss))

He has followed up (http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread450631/pg1) with new information that law enforcement computer experts are concerned that GhostNet may be a reconnaissance effort to locate the counterfeit and exploitable routers... he calls it a possible "weapons test."

One of the "conspiracy" angles presented ties China's recent call for all nations to switch to a global currency, and how a serious cyber-attack on the US may accelerate such thinking.

[fullflavormenthol]

Not every conspiracy theory is woo. Sometimes there is legitimate concern, and in this case I understand it. Now I am not saying that it is part of a super secret NWO conspiracy. It is just a matter of fact that espionage takes place between nations, and China is an emerging super power. So it is completely legitimate to look into this one.

[SkepticGuy]

So it is completely legitimate to look into this one.

It's conceivable that a "conspiracy" in something like this wouldn't necessarily be the GhostNet and counterfeit router issue, but in the cover-up that may follow if the infrastructure is breeched. There are many reasons we (as a nation) are unprepared for something like this, and many failed safe-guards that could have prevented the attack being theorized. As a result, if such a thing were to happen, the conspiracy would take more the shape of the Watergate cover-up than that of MIHOP flavors.