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Ask HN: Safety Critical infrastructure on the Internet
I've been following the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 and while I understand that the "President pulls the plug on the internet" stories are a little exaggerated, it got me thinking about what truly important systems rely on the internet.
Easy ones that come to mind are:
Email communication
Phoneline back hauls
Stock market electronic trades
Cost aware thermostats (imagine they all loose connectivity, default to max usage and bring the power grid down)
What other safety critical infrastructures rely on the internet?
- iuguy 16y agoMilitary links between systems usually traverse the network over Internet (albeit in an encrypted manner, such as with a VPN). Energy firms link sites together via site to site VPNs on the Internet. I wouldn't be surprised if remote support for SCADA networks weren't linked in a similar manner, which would at least make for an interesting fluff article on zdnet. It's a bit like Madagascar in Pandemic 2. What are they going to do? Shut it all (or rather sections of it) down? Then what?