The Internet is down - now what?

Wherever I've worked internet access has been a major reason for unproductivity - a constant source of headaches for managers - so (in a way) a crash of the internet may just be what many business owners/managers are praying for. The internet is down - now what? Now we can get back to work :D.
 
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Trafeye said:
Wherever I've worked internet access has been a major reason for unproductivity - a constant source of headaches for managers - so (in a way) a crash of the internet may just be what many business owners/managers are praying for. The internet is down - now what? Now we can get back to work :D.
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I get your point cause its true but the Managers would have pulled the plug in the internet if they did not need it. So they do need it for the business but the headache comes from the user who abuse it, but then again thats why there is web content filtering. :)
 
Trafeye said:
Wherever I've worked internet access has been a major reason for unproductivity
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You mean something like your 1223 posts? :) I note this last one is business hours, too. At least I have an excuse, it's my business :)

OK, seriously though, although it's very healthy to sit and think "what could go wrong" with important infrastructure, predicting likely gloom and doom is another thing - I honestly don't see any major threat, save perhaps gross lack of investment in supply. Terrorists? Puh-lease, somehow I can't see Osama sitting in the desert with his satellite uplink coding up the next great Windows worm *ooh ... terror struck into heart*, I'm not sure that even falls under the definition of terrorism. Terrorists want to, um, "terrorise" you - making your Internet go down must be pretty low on the list of "scary things to do", just underneath "stand behind a corner and jump out and yell 'boo' when people walk past".

I think the most likely scenario, given how lousy Windows security is, is a really bad maliciously coded worm. Even a worst-case worm though, the damage will be highly limited - very little "basic infrastructure" equipment runs Windows (routers and major servers), it's mostly an incredibly heterogenous mix of UNIX, Linux and various other proprietary, custom systems, while even desktops are highly heterogenous these days (except Windows, but even there). Also, the damage will be quickly limited - AV companies will produce patches, most infected boxes will be taken offline, most companies would be protected by firewalls, many home users by their NAT routers, and ISPs could even cut certain customers off if it became a big problem. Most worms are coded with financial motive though, i.e. Windows botnets, and zombies are useless to spammers if they clog up the Internet entirely. Bad worms would also be self-limiting, taking out the very infrastructure they need to spread.

I can't help but think, especially when the word "terrorism" is thrown in, that these kinds of 'scaremonger' groups are just looking for funding, spouting alarmism so that government etc. throws some money their way, so they have jobs again for another year, sitting around talking nonsense. Must be budget allocation times coming up again.

Anyway, thanks to Telkom, my business already expects the Internet to quite possibly go down for days or weeks at a time :)

The Internet was originally specifically designed and built to be able to continue even if large portions of it were taken out. Reliability is in its very design, even if its not perfect at that.
 
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firesale..like the diehard 4.0
the internetis a entity on it own,It is vast and very powerfull,there is nothing that can break it down,
i was still posting but i will give my views inashort while
 
wel without power .... i guess it's back to my generator and some serious gaming!
 
actually i think if back up power to servers was compromised,then we will have a issue.
i am sure this is well structured around the world,viva la internte
 
Just amatter of interest,where do you think the worlds biggest servers,I mean largest place with the lost servers are...does banks not have this
 
dablakmark8 said:
Just amatter of interest,where do you think the worlds biggest servers,I mean largest place with the lost servers are...does banks not have this
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Do you mean the world's largest server farm?

I do not think it is the banks (banks probably mostly still use mainframes) and I hope they have not "lost" any servers otherwise it would have to be a server farm in the Bermuda Triangle.
 
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