A trio of cyber incidents this morning had some people seeing cyberarmageddon. We're looking at you, Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida).
Following reports this morning that United Airlines had grounded all of its flights worldwide due to a computer problem, and the New York Stock Exchange had also halted all trading due to its own digital problem there were some who wondering mildly if the two were connected in some way. But then the Wall Street Journal web site also went down and the good senator tweeted that the three together had the makings of a major cyberattack. Though he also used the events as an opportunity to push passage of a flawed cybersecurity bill that he supports.
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So far there's no evidence any of them are the result of an attack. United Airlines has only said the problem was "an automation issue"—though it said the same thing last month when it called another nationwide grounding. In that case, several passengers tweeted that they were told the problem was an issue with bogus flight plans being sent to the airline's computers.
The New York Stock Exchange said in a tweet that it halted trading due to an internal technical issue that "is not the result of a cyberattack."
The White House and DHS even weighed in, saying there was no sign that any of the three incidents involved a hack.
But the conspiracy theories aren't likely to die, particularly in light of a curious note the hacking group Anonymous tweeted the night before:
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