Ten ways to destroy the Internet
We used to think of the Internet as a reliable platform for free global communications, where information spreads without interference, innovators can launch new applications at will, and everyone has freedom of speech. But it is unlikely that the next generation of the Internet will retain its current appearance.
In fact, the World Wide Web is not as reliable as many believe. How can the internet we know die? Here are ten possible ways. Let it look a little paranoid, but all the methods listed below have a real factual rationale.
1. Someone will break the Domain Name Service . The Internet relies on DNS. But if someone breaks the fundamental way in which requests are redirected to websites, then we will no longer be able to trust the URL. Phishing will be easy. Who owns the DNS - he owns the Internet.
2. Attack of zombie networks . An unknown number of infected zombie PCs are just waiting for commands from hackers. Matt Sergeant of MessageLabs estimated the size of the Storm botnet alone from five to ten million computers (although other estimates are much more modest). Today, bots fill our mailboxes with spam. But in the past they were used to attack companies and countries, as well as for DDoS attacks on websites. In the end, this is a real arms race, in which there will be only one winner.
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3. Massive physical infrastructure failure . If a small incident with a pair of cables in the Mediterranean led to the disconnection of hundreds of millions of people, just imagine what consequences a deliberate attack might have.
4. Decay into thousands of fragments . Since the days of Fido, people tend to unite in groups by conviction. Niklas Carr, in his book “The Big Switch,” quotes a study that provides statistics: more than 90% of hyperlinks in both the liberal and the conservative community lead to resources within this community. There are even special tools that are designed to keep people from following links beyond a limited world. As a result, islands of people with similar thinking are formed, who are increasingly confident that there is only one correct answer, and they are the only bearers of truth. This is the end of the dreams of the founders of the Internet to create a global global community of citizens.
5. A really good virus that hacks routers . Internet self-healing mechanisms are based on the Border Gateway Protocol or BGP. But what if someone gets inside the routers? At a conference in 2006, representatives of Cisco in response to reports of vulnerabilities concluded that "the most destructive attacks are caused by well-thought-out changes in the configuration of trusted routers." Hurt BGP, and you will not only stop traffic redirection on the Internet, but also prevent us from gaining access to routers and repairing them.
6. Updates interfere with themselves . Most software in our time is designed to automatically download patches and keep yourself up to date. But sometimes the process of automatic upgrade causes its own problems. So, on August 16, 2007, the Skype service went down for the reason, as the company said , of a massive update of the Windows operating system. It is only a matter of time until updates can create solid software modules, such as a network stack, that are no longer able to be updated, and require manual intervention to restore the health of millions of computers.
7. The network will cease to be neutral . If providers begin to charge for access to individual sites, as TV providers charge for access to TV channels, very soon we will have a new column for “Google fees” in our monthly bills. This is already happening with many mobile operators who charge for access to Facebook or YouTube. This is the most cunning way to destroy the Internet, because it means the end of innovation. In such conditions, no one can launch a new Skype, Twitter or YouTube without the support of operators.
8. The involvement of lawyers . The Internet is an experiment on freedom of speech. This may come to an end. Unable to directly “drive” on websites, lawyers will contact hosters and registrars. This is how recently Swiss bankers have disconnected the Wikileaks site from the network . And when the precedent appeared. then other lawyers will follow suit. The recording industry is already looking for ways to make claims to telecom operators for transmitting pirated content. This is a mockery of network neutrality. If telecoms start distributing priority for different types of traffic, they will no longer be general service operators and may be held responsible for what they transmit through their channels, including illegal content.
9. National censorship . Many countries are already restricting Internet access for their citizens. The Chinese firewall, including 30,000 specially trained people who are looking for “wrong” users, is a good example. But the Internet itself is a tool that causes social change and revolution that threatens any government. Imagine, for example, that the US Congress would outlaw online pornography and start blocking known porn sites, which, according to some statistics , generate up to 18.8% of all link clicks on the Internet. Instead of the global Internet, we will return to the era of local subnets, each of which has local legislation.
10. People will die out . As the authors of the popular science magazine Discover several years ago noted , humankind has a whole set of ways to destroy itself: from nuclear weapons and biological weapons to creating a black hole as a result of a scientific experiment . And what will happen to the Internet without users?
The Internet has already come a long way from the initial ideals of the scientific community to a commercial platform controlled by corporations and telecom operators. In many ways, the time between the start of the ARPAnet project in 1969 and the closing date of Netscape a month ago is just a brief moment in the history of the Facebook generation.
In fact, the World Wide Web is not as reliable as many believe. How can the internet we know die? Here are ten possible ways. Let it look a little paranoid, but all the methods listed below have a real factual rationale.
1. Someone will break the Domain Name Service . The Internet relies on DNS. But if someone breaks the fundamental way in which requests are redirected to websites, then we will no longer be able to trust the URL. Phishing will be easy. Who owns the DNS - he owns the Internet.
2. Attack of zombie networks . An unknown number of infected zombie PCs are just waiting for commands from hackers. Matt Sergeant of MessageLabs estimated the size of the Storm botnet alone from five to ten million computers (although other estimates are much more modest). Today, bots fill our mailboxes with spam. But in the past they were used to attack companies and countries, as well as for DDoS attacks on websites. In the end, this is a real arms race, in which there will be only one winner.
')
3. Massive physical infrastructure failure . If a small incident with a pair of cables in the Mediterranean led to the disconnection of hundreds of millions of people, just imagine what consequences a deliberate attack might have.
4. Decay into thousands of fragments . Since the days of Fido, people tend to unite in groups by conviction. Niklas Carr, in his book “The Big Switch,” quotes a study that provides statistics: more than 90% of hyperlinks in both the liberal and the conservative community lead to resources within this community. There are even special tools that are designed to keep people from following links beyond a limited world. As a result, islands of people with similar thinking are formed, who are increasingly confident that there is only one correct answer, and they are the only bearers of truth. This is the end of the dreams of the founders of the Internet to create a global global community of citizens.
5. A really good virus that hacks routers . Internet self-healing mechanisms are based on the Border Gateway Protocol or BGP. But what if someone gets inside the routers? At a conference in 2006, representatives of Cisco in response to reports of vulnerabilities concluded that "the most destructive attacks are caused by well-thought-out changes in the configuration of trusted routers." Hurt BGP, and you will not only stop traffic redirection on the Internet, but also prevent us from gaining access to routers and repairing them.
6. Updates interfere with themselves . Most software in our time is designed to automatically download patches and keep yourself up to date. But sometimes the process of automatic upgrade causes its own problems. So, on August 16, 2007, the Skype service went down for the reason, as the company said , of a massive update of the Windows operating system. It is only a matter of time until updates can create solid software modules, such as a network stack, that are no longer able to be updated, and require manual intervention to restore the health of millions of computers.
7. The network will cease to be neutral . If providers begin to charge for access to individual sites, as TV providers charge for access to TV channels, very soon we will have a new column for “Google fees” in our monthly bills. This is already happening with many mobile operators who charge for access to Facebook or YouTube. This is the most cunning way to destroy the Internet, because it means the end of innovation. In such conditions, no one can launch a new Skype, Twitter or YouTube without the support of operators.
8. The involvement of lawyers . The Internet is an experiment on freedom of speech. This may come to an end. Unable to directly “drive” on websites, lawyers will contact hosters and registrars. This is how recently Swiss bankers have disconnected the Wikileaks site from the network . And when the precedent appeared. then other lawyers will follow suit. The recording industry is already looking for ways to make claims to telecom operators for transmitting pirated content. This is a mockery of network neutrality. If telecoms start distributing priority for different types of traffic, they will no longer be general service operators and may be held responsible for what they transmit through their channels, including illegal content.
9. National censorship . Many countries are already restricting Internet access for their citizens. The Chinese firewall, including 30,000 specially trained people who are looking for “wrong” users, is a good example. But the Internet itself is a tool that causes social change and revolution that threatens any government. Imagine, for example, that the US Congress would outlaw online pornography and start blocking known porn sites, which, according to some statistics , generate up to 18.8% of all link clicks on the Internet. Instead of the global Internet, we will return to the era of local subnets, each of which has local legislation.
10. People will die out . As the authors of the popular science magazine Discover several years ago noted , humankind has a whole set of ways to destroy itself: from nuclear weapons and biological weapons to creating a black hole as a result of a scientific experiment . And what will happen to the Internet without users?
The Internet has already come a long way from the initial ideals of the scientific community to a commercial platform controlled by corporations and telecom operators. In many ways, the time between the start of the ARPAnet project in 1969 and the closing date of Netscape a month ago is just a brief moment in the history of the Facebook generation.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/31502/
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