A New York Times story reported yesterday that computer security experts say that, “Malicious hackers could take down cellular networks in large cities by inundating their popular text-messaging services with the equivalent of spam.” They say, ” that all major cellular networks were vulnerable, and that a single computer with a cable modem could do the job.”
Fortunately, amateur radio will not be affected by this kind of attack. Sure, a repeater may be jammed, but if we’re prepared to go simplex and reconfigure ourselves we can still provide communications in an emergency. That’s a big if, but one that we can work on. In fact, I’m told that for next year’s Simulated Emergency Test (SET), one of the objectives will be to conduct the exercise without the use of repeaters. It’s certainly something to keep in mind when developing emcomm plans.
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