full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Guy-Philippe Goldstein: How cyberattacks threaten real-world peace

Unscramble the Blue Letters


More recently, the U.S. government revealed that in sebetmepr 2008, more than 3 million plepoe in the state of Espirito Santo in Brazil were plunged into darkness, victims of a bakaimlcl operation from cyber pirates. Even more worrying for the Americans, in December 2008 the holiest of holies, the IT systems of cotcenm, the central cmnomad managing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, may have been ifnttilerad by hackers who used these: plain but infected USB keys. And with these keys, they may have been able to get inside CENTCOM's systems, to see and hear everything, and maybe even infect some of them. As a result, the Americans take the threat very seriously. I'll quote General James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who says in a rroept to Congress that cbcraetaktys could be as powerful as wnoapes of mass doctuertsin. Moreover, the Americans have decided to spend over 30 billion dollars in the next five years to build up their cyberwar capabilities.

Open Cloze


More recently, the U.S. government revealed that in _________ 2008, more than 3 million ______ in the state of Espirito Santo in Brazil were plunged into darkness, victims of a _________ operation from cyber pirates. Even more worrying for the Americans, in December 2008 the holiest of holies, the IT systems of _______, the central _______ managing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, may have been ___________ by hackers who used these: plain but infected USB keys. And with these keys, they may have been able to get inside CENTCOM's systems, to see and hear everything, and maybe even infect some of them. As a result, the Americans take the threat very seriously. I'll quote General James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who says in a ______ to Congress that ____________ could be as powerful as _______ of mass ___________. Moreover, the Americans have decided to spend over 30 billion dollars in the next five years to build up their cyberwar capabilities.

Solution


  1. blackmail
  2. centcom
  3. people
  4. september
  5. weapons
  6. cyberattacks
  7. report
  8. destruction
  9. command
  10. infiltrated

Original Text


More recently, the U.S. government revealed that in September 2008, more than 3 million people in the state of Espirito Santo in Brazil were plunged into darkness, victims of a blackmail operation from cyber pirates. Even more worrying for the Americans, in December 2008 the holiest of holies, the IT systems of CENTCOM, the central command managing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, may have been infiltrated by hackers who used these: plain but infected USB keys. And with these keys, they may have been able to get inside CENTCOM's systems, to see and hear everything, and maybe even infect some of them. As a result, the Americans take the threat very seriously. I'll quote General James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who says in a report to Congress that cyberattacks could be as powerful as weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, the Americans have decided to spend over 30 billion dollars in the next five years to build up their cyberwar capabilities.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
cyber weapons 8
world peace 3
military technologies 2
potential enemy 2
weapons give 2
preemptive attacks 2


Important Words


  1. afghanistan
  2. americans
  3. billion
  4. blackmail
  5. brazil
  6. build
  7. capabilities
  8. cartwright
  9. centcom
  10. central
  11. chairman
  12. chiefs
  13. command
  14. congress
  15. cyber
  16. cyberattacks
  17. cyberwar
  18. darkness
  19. december
  20. decided
  21. destruction
  22. dollars
  23. espirito
  24. general
  25. government
  26. hackers
  27. hear
  28. holies
  29. holiest
  30. infect
  31. infected
  32. infiltrated
  33. iraq
  34. james
  35. joint
  36. keys
  37. managing
  38. mass
  39. million
  40. operation
  41. people
  42. pirates
  43. plain
  44. plunged
  45. powerful
  46. quote
  47. report
  48. result
  49. revealed
  50. santo
  51. september
  52. spend
  53. staff
  54. state
  55. systems
  56. threat
  57. usb
  58. vice
  59. victims
  60. wars
  61. weapons
  62. worrying
  63. years