There are tens of millions of computers worldwide now. Crucial systems are redundant and then some. The Millennium Bug . This is not so much a bug as a design flaw built into generations of early computers, many of them still running in the crucial areas mentioned above. Whether the millennial shift proves a data processing plague or just a slight computer cold, it reminds us of how fragile our information infrastructure can be, a fact more than a few antisociety types have realized.
Computers are crucial, computers are ubiquitous, and computers are vulnerable.
They make attractive, and attractively easy, targets for terrorists. A widely publicized attack on America Online's system failed to amount to much. But suppose a well-organized, carefully mounted information attack did take place. For that matter, the attack need not be electronic. Sheer Traffic .