Recalling this day in 1944, when allied troops liberated Rome.  It was a major event in the storied history the city, but overshadowed two days later by the D-Day landings in northern France.

THIS IS GETTING SERIOUS – OVERNIGHT:  Cyber warfare, that is.  Since it occurs quietly, and possesses no warships, planes, or tanks, cyber warfare doesn't get that much notice.  But it's starting to affect this nation in very dangerous ways.  Potentially, deadly ways.  From The Wall Street Journal:

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the agency was investigating about 100 different types of ransomware, many tracing back to hackers in Russia, and compared the current spate of cyberattacks with the challenge posed by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“There are a lot of parallels, there’s a lot of importance, and a lot of focus by us on disruption and prevention,” Mr. Wray said in an interview Thursday. “There’s a shared responsibility, not just across government agencies but across the private sector and even the average American.”

Mr. Wray’s comments—among his first publicly since two recent ransomware attacks gripped the U.S. meat and oil-and-gas industries—come as senior Biden administration officials have characterized ransomware as an urgent national-security threat and said they are looking at ways to disrupt the criminal ecosystem that supports the booming industry. Each of the 100 different malicious software variants are responsible for multiple ransomware attacks in the U.S., Mr. Wray said.

Ransomware is a type of malicious computer code that locks up a victim network’s files that hackers use to demand payment for their release, typically with digital currency such as bitcoin.

This week, hackers held hostage the world’s largest meat processor, just weeks after the operator of an essential pipeline bringing gasoline to parts of the East Coast paid about $4.4 million to regain control of its operations and restore service.

Senior officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation for years have likened the need to confront rising cyber threats to the post-9/11 scramble against international terrorism. But Mr. Wray said the wave of recent ransomware attacks had spotlighted the toll cyberattacks can have on all Americans.

“Now realizing it can affect them when they’re buying gas at the pump or buying a hamburger—I think there’s a growing awareness now of just how much we’re all in this fight together,” Mr. Wray said.

COMMENT:  It goes well beyond economic loss or inconvenience.  Future atacks, using new technology, could paralyze hospitals, or airliners in flight.   And a cyberattack can be joined by a classic terrorist attack to create chaos and fear.

Anyone with a computer is involved in this. 

June 4, 2021