Get your own portion of viral terror via SMS

Posted By Evgeny Morozov Thursday, June 11, 2009 - 4:50 PM Share

Here comes another proof that the most powerful cyber-weapoin today is still... a text message, especially when used to spread "viral terror". Having carefully watched the unfolding cyberwarfare debates, I am yet to see any substantial references to the role of panic that could be stimulated with the help of social media and mobile technology. What if the scenario below was a bit more sophisticated: i.e. the text messages were backed-up by "fake" evidence uploaded to Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, etc? After all, if it's on Flickr and YouTube, it must exist, right? I think the Volgodonsk example below gives some indication of what the consequences of such viral terror could be.

From World Nuclear News:

Several Russian nuclear power plants have been the target of a so-called information terror campaign spreading false information about an alleged nuclear accident, according to the country's nuclear operator.
Reports circulated on the Internet and by SMS messaging claimed that major incidents had occurred at nuclear power plants at Kursk, Novovoronezh, Balakovo and Volgodonsk. However, Energoatom, the company responsible for operating all of Russia's nuclear power plants, was quick to refute the allegations.
"The reports ... saying that there have been accidents at some of the Russian nuclear power plants are not true. It appears to be one more information attack," Energoatom said in a release issued by its information and press centre. Stressing that all of its nuclear power plants were operating normally, the organisation pointed to a dedicated website, russianatom.ru, which provides detailed real-time information about background radiation levels at all Russian nuclear power installations.
...This is not the first time that Russian nuclear plants have suffered so-called information attacks, seemingly designed to cause panic. In June 2008, rumours were circulated about a spurious accident at the Leningrad nuclear power station, as were allegations of radiation releases from the Volgodonsk nuclear plant. A July 2007 campaign against Volgodonsk, which according to Rosatom involved emails, SMS messages and telephone calls urging people to evacuate, led to over 500,000 telephone calls to the emergency ministry and panic buying of canned food, red wine and iodine pills.