Ship hits Baltimore MD bridge, causing collapse into river

Cue wacko conspiracy theories in 5…4…3…

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So then lets just stick to what we know:

US officials deliver warning that Chinese hackers are targeting infrastructure

“They’re not focused just on political and military targets. We can see from where they position themselves across civilian infrastructure, that low blows aren’t just a possibility in the event of conflict, low blows against civilians are part of China’s plan,” Wray said.

American bridges, water treatment facilities, and power plants.

Chinese cyber intrusions in aviation, water, energy and transportation infrastructure

https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/chinese-hackers-are-targeting-us-infrastructure-fbi-chief-testify-2024-01-31/

Its equally plausible that this was just an accident or a cyber attack.

The latest info is that there were indeed local pilots on the ship who help to navigate around bridges and such in these waterways. So there were experts on board to handle this, and yet the ship turned directly into the pillar from a vector which originally pointed straight through the gap.

A Chinese cyber attack is well within the realm of possibility.

And with the overwhelming amount of information out there with regards to what China has already done and is planning to do, I am shocked that anyone could possibly discount this so quickly without a deep investigation.

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At the risk of aligning myself with “wacko conspiracy theorists”, this is a fair point.

I disagree that it’s “equally plausible” between accident and cyber attack, but the latter is a possibility. I’m no expert on how a cyber attack could have been carried out, but something fucked up on the cargo ship.

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Normally an accident would be far more likely, but the timing of this is too suspicious. It’s not like ships topple bridges regularly on a monthly frequency.

It might be suspicious and no doubt the thought of a hack crossed everyone’s mind, although China wouldn’t be my number 1 suspect.

But we work with what we know at any particular moment in time, they will no doubt do a full analysis but for now there’s no reason to speculate on inflammatory accusations or suspicions.

For now it makes sense to call it an accident because that is what the evidence is telling us for now, no need to lend weight to speculative theories as they will be either ruled out or until evidence is found to support the theory.

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I’m not sure you can just cut power to a ship by hacking them. Pretty sure the computers that control them is completely offline. You don’t really have internet out at sea except by starlink.

You can’t hack that which is not connected to the internet.

Also shipping disruptions in the US hurts Chinese companies as much as it will hurt American companies.

That’s called a ‘pilot’, ship pilot, harbor pilot, port pilot.

Hypothetically it would have been 1:30PM China time - maybe the hackers just got back from their lunch break - Makes you wonder if hacks around the world revolve around Chinese business hours? :laughing:

“aye aye, Sergeant”

I don’t know how you can hack a ship’s system that are most likely not connected to the internet. If they want to screw with ship system they will have to do it in person, and that means compromised crew. There’s no evidence of that.

I think you mean that you can’t hack it in real time.

It bears pointing out that perhaps the ship’s steering systems don’t have to be online for this to happen. I mean, commands could have been written into the ship’s system while the ship was online. What’s necessary is the code, not the connection.

Not that I believe that’s what happened. I am completely agnostic at this point. Just pointing out.

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That would require compromised crew or virus carried in physically and loaded into the computer via a thumb drive or something. These industrial systems are usually not connected to a network at all.

Chinese hackers could theoretically infiltrate the cryptographic intranet communications systems of an F-35 and render it essentially inoperable.

A partial list of compromised designs include the F-35 fifth generation fighter jet, the V-22 Osprey, THAAD missile defense, Patriot missile defense, AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, the Global Hawk high altitude surveillance drone.

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Apparently it was already investigated early on

There are no accidents- there are only conspiracies.

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Nonsense. That’s just what they want you to think.

(I feel like “/s” shouldn’t be necessary, but I’d best add it.)

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Really? That’s news to the shipping industry and private yacht owners

We’re celebrating 25 years of GMDSS being fully implemented by the IMO, protecting the lives of 1.65 million seafarers every day since 1999.

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You know I’ve worked around equipment where computer errors can cause a lot of money in damage, CNC machines, SEM, etc.

The owner of those equipment wouldn’t let it come in contact with the internet at all. I mean the SEM belonged to UT Austin, and the computer that controls it isn’t connected to any network at all (because we’re talking about a million bucks in damage if a hacker got control of it).

Even if the ship has internet I’m pretty sure the propulsion system, if controlled by a computer, isn’t connected to any network except for very localized and isolated network.

I realize CNC machines can be networked, but you’d be a fool to do it. A hacker can destroy your product line if you network it. There is little reason to connect it to the internet IMO.

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Many ships are connected via satellite with the home base. They can be hacked I guess. It’s like planes, they are connected to the maintenance hub in real time.

It was not the evil Chinese, it was not international terrorists trying to take down the bridge because it was named after the author of the Star-Spangled Banner, it was not because of DEI ( They hired Negroes! Wimmins! Messicans! Homomoshexuals!) or other accusations from the usual conspiracist nuts ( Andrew Tate, Alex Jones, MTG, Victor David Hanson, Dave “Just Asking Questions” Rubin, Nancy Mace), just to name a few that have come out since the collapse.