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N
o one would have believed that in the last years
of the 19th century that human affairs were
being watched from the timeless worlds of space.
No one could have dreamed we were being scrutinised as
someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and
multiply in a drop of water.
Few men even considered the possibility of life on other
planets. And yet, across the gulf of space minds immeasurably
superior to ours regarded this Earth with envious eyes and
slowly and surely they drew their plans against us."
You may recognise this as Richard Burton's introduction to Jeff Wayne's
adaptation of "The War of the Worlds", however if you change the century,
change the reference of Earth to the west, replace the antagonists of the story
from Martians to the Chinese, it starts to sound like a series of messages I've
heard repeated in Information Assurance and Cyber Security forums, events,
and symposiums over the last 2 or 3 years.
Or specifically; components that originate in the Far East are intentionally
contaminated and sent through the supply chain ready to wreak havoc upon
their designated end-points, or to lay poised for some coordinated attack
against western interests.
Repeat such theories in the voice of Marvin the paranoid android from Douglas
Adams' legendary "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", and you start to establish
· 33 ·
sILICon
roaD
Scott Cattaneo, SBL
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