Tingog.com

If you think that the new Secretary of Defense for The United States, Robert Gates, isn’t really a factor in The Philippines, then you may want to reconsider. The newly appointed Secretary who replaced Donald Rumsfeld a little over a week ago is a big believer in Cyberterrorism. In a Counterterrorism conference back in December of 2004, Robert Gates said the following:

Cyberterrorism could be the most devastating weapon of mass destruction yet and could cripple the U.S. economy

I don’t know much about terrorism, but I do know that the United States is indeed vulnerable to such attacks since everything basically revolves around computers these days. And according to Gates… Cyberterrorism=Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). But, this isn’t the part where my eyes widened. The article goes on to state:

Gates, who became Texas A&M University’s president in 2002 about a decade after he left the CIA, cited as an example the “love bug” virus that overwhelmed computer systems around the world in 2000.

“When a teenage hacker in the Philippines overnight can wreak $10 billion in damage to the U.S. economy by implanting a virus, imagine what a sophisticated, well-funded effort to attack the computer base of our economy could accomplish,” said Gates, addressing the two-day conference at Rice University.

Wow, I knew that during those weeks following the revelation that the hacker behind “I love you” was a Filipino that The Philippines was a bit bigger on the map. But, now you realize, hmm… Even the new Secretary of Defense of the World’s Mightiest nation thinks that Cyberterrorism is also a focus, and that the only example he had was someone from The Philippines. I guess, I better watch what I’m typing. Just a warning to all Filipino Hackers out there, watch over your soldier for an american guy by the name of Robert Gates, you may not want to put him on any of your email or Instant Messaging List.

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