by Brian Shilhavy, Health Impact News:

After the recent Microsoft Windows failed update by Crowdsource that crippled computers worldwide, cyber security experts have been in high demand for journalists worldwide to report on just how serious and how likely it is that a cyber attack could cripple our society.

For those criminal elements who earn their living from cyber attacks and ransoms, this must be cyber heaven for them, because the corporate media is doing their jobs for them, for free!

The Daily Mail is a recent example, where they have almost literally published a blueprint on how to destroy America through a cyber attack.

TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/

EXCLUSIVE: How a cybersecurity attack would cripple America – after catastrophic Crowdsource glitch

Cybercriminals could cripple the US by targeting just 10 critical components in an electrical network, experts have revealed.

The attack would begin with ‘a series of cascading failures,’ first shutting down essential service providers, like 911 call centers and healthcare providers, and then spreading to critical infrastructure.

Americans would lose access to energy, water, financial services, public transportation and cell phone networks, resulting in severe ramifications.

Morgan Wright, a former senior advisor in antiterrorism at the US State Department, told DailyMail.com that ‘civil unrest’ and a ‘breakdown in the social order’ would soon follow.

The world had a taste of what a cyberattack could do when a flawed update was issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike last month, causing 8.5 million Windows computers to malfunction.

The misstep impacted airlines, banks, supermarkets, TV stations, and many other industries worldwide.

Microsoft experienced a second outage on Tuesday, which impacted many of its services and companies that use its tech for about 10 hours.

The tech giant later admitted that its services were taken down by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack that was ‘amplified’ by an error in the company’s cyber defenses.

Eric O’Neill, a former FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence operative, told DailyMail.com that foreign spies have spent over a decade looking for security holes in infrastructure to leverage for conducting catastrophic cyber attacks.

They have already found ways to disrupt America’s fuel, power, water, communications, and education systems as they look to exploit our reliance on these essential resources, he continued.

An attack of this kind would have dire consequences for US citizens, such as even killing Americans on their soil, warned Nicholas Reese, a cyber expert and adjunct instructor at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University.

He explained that a cyberattack on 911 call centers would deprive patients of urgent medical care.

Meanwhile, hospitals would see a disruption in intensive care units and operating rooms, causing medical equipment to falter and patient deaths. (Full article.)

Since similar warnings were also reported in Congress last week, this information is obviously not seen as a threat to national security, as it is obviously common knowledge.

In fact, just type in “cyber attack” into your favorite news search, and you will see that cyber attacks are already a daily occurrence, and gaining in frequency.

Here are a few examples just within the past couple of days:

McLaren confirms cyberattack across its 13 Michigan hospitals, physician network

For the second time in a year, cybercriminals have attacked McLaren Health Care’s technology platforms, the Grand Blanc-based health system said Wednesday afternoon, confirming the cause of a disruption earlier this week to all 13 of its Michigan hospitals, surgery, infusion and imaging centers along with its network of 113,000 medical providers throughout Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

“McLaren Health Care can now confirm the disruption … was the result of a criminal cyber attack,” said a statement sent to the Free Press. “Our information technology team continues to work with external cyber security experts to analyze the nature of the attack and mitigate the impacts of the threat actors. At this time, we have not determined if any patient or employee data was compromised.” (Full article.)

Hacker group responsible for Columbus cyberattack claims 45% of data is published; ransom deadline extended

Mayor Ginther’s office said that as of 4 p.m. Wednesday, they have no evidence that any of the city’s data has been published.

The hacker group holding the city’s data for ransom now claims they’ve published about 45% of it and is threatening to release more if the city doesn’t pay the ransom by Thursday morning. However, Mayor Andrew Ginther’s office says there is no evidence that data has been published.

Hackers claim to have uploaded access to surveillance video, building information and personal information of employees on the dark web. (Full article.)

North Miami City Hall remains closed following possible cyber attack

The city of North Miami remains closed Tuesday as officials deal with a possible cyber breach.

A notice now appears on the city’s website alerting visitors to the “possible breach affecting its network system.”

Local 10 News has learned their IT department was notified of the breach on Sunday.

Residents are growing more frustrated as city business is unable to be conducted. (Full article.)

Hackers Allegedly Steal Billions of Personal Records From Fla. Security Firm

The stolen data includes Social Security numbers and physical addresses, according to a class-action lawsuit filed against National Public Data, which performs background checks.

A little-known company in Florida allegedly lost records on 2.9 billion individuals to hackers, according to a class-action lawsuit.

National Public Data specializes in background checks and fraud prevention. But the data it collects appears to have ended up in the hands of a hacking group called “USDoD.” It began selling access to the stolen data in April, claiming to have info on users in the US, UK, and Canada.

It has since been hit with a class-action lawsuit, Bloomberg Law reports. California resident Christopher Hoffman filed after his identity protection provider notified him that his personal data had been compromised in the breach.

The data leak might be one of the largest of all time, although the full scale of the incident remains unconfirmed. National Public Data didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But in June, malware collection site VX Underground was able to review the stolen data, which was originally on sale for $3.5 million. (Full article.)

The fact that America can easily be crippled by cyber attacks is not a theory, but a fact. A “cyber pandemic” will happen.

Read More @ HealthImpactNews.com