My New Project

[Kurt]

Since we have been expecting cyber-attacks with the Ukraine invasion I have been hardening parts of our systems.

I wish I could show photos but I have spent one day a week for the last 3 weeks on the catwalks in subway tunnels checking the computer systems that run ventilation fans, flood pumps, sewage ejectors (Had no idea that was even a thing until I went into a sewage ejector room) and scrubbers (filtering air to be recirculated)

Last Friday I had a pedometer application running on my phone and I clocked in 2 miles underground. My territory is 42 city blocks and the heights range from 6 stories above ground to 7 stories below.

I am really really glad COVID-19 requires mask wearing on work property because a KN-95 mask is seriously needed underground anyway.

I was hired during the Trump admin after they killed that Quds general because they thought that Iran would attack our infrastructure and instead I found that Russia and North Korea were hitting it. Now I gotta do stuff to prevent Russia from attacking it and most evidence is that Chinese groups are trying to hit us.

[el3so]

I wish I could show photos but I have spent one day a week for the last 3 weeks on the catwalks in subway tunnels checking the computer systems that run ventilation fans, flood pumps, sewage ejectors (Had no idea that was even a thing until I went into a sewage ejector room) and scrubbers (filtering air to be recirculated)

Last Friday I had a pedometer application running on my phone and I clocked in 2 miles underground. My territory is 42 city blocks and the heights range from 6 stories above ground to 7 stories below.

Meet any mutants?

[Kurt]

I wish I could show photos but I have spent one day a week for the last 3 weeks on the catwalks in subway tunnels checking the computer systems that run ventilation fans, flood pumps, sewage ejectors (Had no idea that was even a thing until I went into a sewage ejector room) and scrubbers (filtering air to be recirculated)

Last Friday I had a pedometer application running on my phone and I clocked in 2 miles underground. My territory is 42 city blocks and the heights range from 6 stories above ground to 7 stories below.

Meet any mutants?

I wish.

[vagabond]

Since we have been expecting cyber-attacks with the Ukraine invasion I have been hardening parts of our systems.

I wish I could show photos but I have spent one day a week for the last 3 weeks on the catwalks in subway tunnels checking the computer systems that run ventilation fans, flood pumps, sewage ejectors (Had no idea that was even a thing until I went into a sewage ejector room) and scrubbers (filtering air to be recirculated)

Last Friday I had a pedometer application running on my phone and I clocked in 2 miles underground. My territory is 42 city blocks and the heights range from 6 stories above ground to 7 stories below.

I am really really glad COVID-19 requires mask wearing on work property because a KN-95 mask is seriously needed underground anyway.

I was hired during the Trump admin after they killed that Quds general because they thought that Iran would attack our infrastructure and instead I found that Russia and North Korea were hitting it. Now I gotta do stuff to prevent Russia from attacking it and most evidence is that Chinese groups are trying to hit us.

I recall when I first started in IT, so like, 5-6 years ago, and the CTO was showing off a cool feature of the firewall which could display a map of incoming/denied (not sure which) traffic - large majority Russia / China. Looked like that old missile game. Then a client got hit with ransomware. As you said the Ukraine post, infrastructure is the more likely target. Was it China or Russia who took part of the internet offline not so long ago for a brief period of time for shits and giggles? Not to mention the OPM and other hacks which I assume means some country or countries have info on most Americans stashed away somewhere.

[Kurt]

Since we have been expecting cyber-attacks with the Ukraine invasion I have been hardening parts of our systems.

I wish I could show photos but I have spent one day a week for the last 3 weeks on the catwalks in subway tunnels checking the computer systems that run ventilation fans, flood pumps, sewage ejectors (Had no idea that was even a thing until I went into a sewage ejector room) and scrubbers (filtering air to be recirculated)

Last Friday I had a pedometer application running on my phone and I clocked in 2 miles underground. My territory is 42 city blocks and the heights range from 6 stories above ground to 7 stories below.

I am really really glad COVID-19 requires mask wearing on work property because a KN-95 mask is seriously needed underground anyway.

I was hired during the Trump admin after they killed that Quds general because they thought that Iran would attack our infrastructure and instead I found that Russia and North Korea were hitting it. Now I gotta do stuff to prevent Russia from attacking it and most evidence is that Chinese groups are trying to hit us.

I recall when I first started in IT, so like, 5-6 years ago, and the CTO was showing off a cool feature of the firewall which could display a map of incoming/denied (not sure which) traffic - large majority Russia / China. Looked like that old missile game. Then a client got hit with ransomware. As you said the Ukraine post, infrastructure is the more likely target. Was it China or Russia who took part of the internet offline not so long ago for a brief period of time for shits and giggles? Not to mention the OPM and other hacks which I assume means some country or countries have info on most Americans stashed away somewhere.

Most Russian attacks come from webhosts in the Netherlands these days. It was US hackers who liked to use Russian infrastructure to attack the US, so way back when when all these people were saying "The Russians are attacking!" were often getting attacked by Americans.

With infrastructure, the biggest danger is physical sabotage. Compromises like the one I am dealing with are mostly incidental. Just ransomeware people trying to hit and encrypt whatever they can. If their malware could interact with the programs running on the controller then people could get fucked. There are some control systems that could cause loss of life if the perfect storm of cyber attacks combined with staff shortages due to COVID-19.

Now my tunnel crawl is delayed until tomorrow. It's raining today which means sewage is going to flow into the ejector rooms. ..which will be really smelly.

[gnaruki]

The coolest part about one of my old jobs was going behind the scenes into places like you describe. It was a trip to get access to a decommissioned nuclear plant, a control room for half of the NW's hydroelectric dams, inside dams, really just a lot of very secured power generation/utility sites.

Sorry to hear all the CHUDs drown in sewage.

[vagabond]

Since we have been expecting cyber-attacks with the Ukraine invasion I have been hardening parts of our systems.

I wish I could show photos but I have spent one day a week for the last 3 weeks on the catwalks in subway tunnels checking the computer systems that run ventilation fans, flood pumps, sewage ejectors (Had no idea that was even a thing until I went into a sewage ejector room) and scrubbers (filtering air to be recirculated)

Last Friday I had a pedometer application running on my phone and I clocked in 2 miles underground. My territory is 42 city blocks and the heights range from 6 stories above ground to 7 stories below.

I am really really glad COVID-19 requires mask wearing on work property because a KN-95 mask is seriously needed underground anyway.

I was hired during the Trump admin after they killed that Quds general because they thought that Iran would attack our infrastructure and instead I found that Russia and North Korea were hitting it. Now I gotta do stuff to prevent Russia from attacking it and most evidence is that Chinese groups are trying to hit us.

I recall when I first started in IT, so like, 5-6 years ago, and the CTO was showing off a cool feature of the firewall which could display a map of incoming/denied (not sure which) traffic - large majority Russia / China. Looked like that old missile game. Then a client got hit with ransomware. As you said the Ukraine post, infrastructure is the more likely target. Was it China or Russia who took part of the internet offline not so long ago for a brief period of time for shits and giggles? Not to mention the OPM and other hacks which I assume means some country or countries have info on most Americans stashed away somewhere.

Most Russian attacks come from webhosts in the Netherlands these days. It was US hackers who liked to use Russian infrastructure to attack the US, so way back when when all these people were saying "The Russians are attacking!" were often getting attacked by Americans.

With infrastructure, the biggest danger is physical sabotage. Compromises like the one I am dealing with are mostly incidental. Just ransomeware people trying to hit and encrypt whatever they can. If their malware could interact with the programs running on the controller then people could get fucked. There are some control systems that could cause loss of life if the perfect storm of cyber attacks combined with staff shortages due to COVID-19.

Now my tunnel crawl is delayed until tomorrow. It's raining today which means sewage is going to flow into the ejector rooms. ..which will be really smelly.

Is there more fear about cyber attacks than nature/climate change given how f'd some of the subway gets during the storms more frequently, not to mention the age of equipment?

[Kurt]

That isa worry.

During NYC floods in 2021 there was film of water flowing everywhere and people almost swimming to the platform....but that was with a pump system functioning as it should. Imagine a cyber attack that could move the pumps to "off" rather than automatic?

There are failsafes but with staff shortages from covid and the fact these areas are hard to get to means we gotta cover bases.

Today I went to the incomplete 106 st.Station and had to crawl into a 3 x 4 trapdoor at a sidewalk at 105th st.
It was pretty cool.