We're all in this together. Hold hands.
I watched the 2005 Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie again, and was reminded about mice. Remember those cute little white mice scampering on Zaphod’s space craft, chewing cables and generally being mousey but really all along the mice were hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings using earth and humans as a massive computer to determine what is The Ultimate Question of Life the Universe and Everything — for which the answer is 42? Remember all that? I’d forgotten about the mice (maybe they induce memory loss for protection) but now am wondering if Douglas Adams got it slightly wrong.
It’s not mice it’s squirrels.
According to CyberSquirrel, 623 successful cyberwar ops by squirrels have been achieved as of the beginning of 2016 (not sure the start date for the count). Next highest group of saboteurs is wild birds (214), with raccoons (52), snakes (47), rats (25) and beavers (9) completing the list of wildlife. Slackers China, Russia and the USA have zero. (Bet Quaker parrots design the best grid disrupters among the bird saboteurs.)
"I don't think paralysis [of the electrical grid] is more likely by cyberattack than by natural disaster. And frankly the number-one threat experienced to date by the US electrical grid is squirrels." - John C. Inglis, Former Deputy Director, National Security Agency 2015.07.09
Locations of some grid disrupting cyber-ops by squirrels in the US.
CyberSquirrel has a filter-able Google map that you can customize to see the known cyber attacks by these animals although details are kept secret because National Security.
Can’t say I’ve not hinted warnings: Squirrel sez “your nuts or your life.” What is the overall objective of the squirrels? Are we humans being herded by them to achieve some squirrelly goal we can’t understand, being only human? After all, we’ve been well-trained to offer them seeds, nuts and suet under the guise of attracting colorful birds. Perhaps the squirrels are in cahoots with birds (the next most effective cyber saboteur) and the birds visit us to ensure we keep feeding our secret squirrel overlords. With this level of cunning, who knows what Squirrel Masterplan is underway.
Thanks to the Hitchhiker’s Guide we have advice on how to cope.
Don’t Panic!
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