Cyber Squirrel Operations

The cable company had to replace the line to our house last month because a squirrel had chewed through the sheathing and let water in, affecting our service. It would have been much worse (but more immediately evident) if the critters had chewed through the electrical supply wire. In fact, squirrels are a bigger threat to the U.S. electrical grid than cyber attacks. It’s as if the squirrels are waging war on us!

That’s the premise of the website Cyber Squirrel 1. The folks who run it keep track of all publicly available record of attacks on the electrical grid of the U.S. and other nations, and the cause, if it can be determined. They have an interactive map that shows attacks from squirrels and other animals for records going back to 1987. Their data shows that squirrels are responsible for way more attacks on our power grid than any other animal, including humans. We have obviously not been successful so far in the battle against this ruthless and stealthy enemy.  -via Metafilter


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Behind the house I grew up in squirrels would do something with the fuse on the pole and besides becoming instant squirrel-b-q would kill the power to a dozen homes roughly 2-3 times a year.
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I don't think I would call that a motherboard, just a generic printed circuit board. Companies (or one of their humorless departments) may be hesitant to stick random things on their circuit board where someone might see it, so while some are around, they aren't too common in my experience. Although there are collections around of images found on the actual silicon chips and integrated circuits, which normally would not be visible without destructively opening the plastic the chip is embedded in and then using a microscope to look at it.
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I was doing a little reverse engineering of a circuit board from Jack Deville - taking each component off and tracing the connections to get an idea how the board worked, and under the main chip was a message 'Concede Defeat, Retain Pride'. I can't imagine too many people would see that, but it made my day.
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