The Gathmann Balloon Project announced this morning that their first geoengineering study over the Pacific Ocean was halted today when the sensors used to monitor the progress of the experiment failed due to a cybersecurity attack on the craft. “The calcium carbonate dust was released as planned,” explained Dr Irving Langmuir, senior scientist for the project; “When we relocated the balloon to start the data collection process, all of our sensors stopped operating.”
StormFury, an environmental action group that opposes geoengineering activities, claimed responsibilities for the attack in a statement issued today through a lawyer that handles environmental justice cases. The statement said: “While today’s experiment would likely have minimal environmental effects, the concept of geoengineering the atmosphere to mitigate global climate change is fraught with grave potential to harm the environment even more than humans have already done. We will take whatever action necessary to prevent such studies from being conducted.”
Dade Murphy, CTO of Dragonfire Cyber, told reporters by video conference that the sensors being used by the Gathmann Balloon Project have known security vulnerabilities that allow a remote attacker to execute a denial-of-service attack. “This certainly sounds like what may have happened today,” he said, “We have been asked by the Project to investigate the incident and suggest security measures to prevent future occurrences.”
Johnathan Quest, spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Inquiry, acknowledged that the FBI had been contacted to investigate the incident. “Since the study was being funded in part by a federal grant,” Quest said, “The FBI would certainly have jurisdiction over the event.”
Langmuir told reporters that after appropriate measures were put in place to prevent future attacks, the test flights would resume. “The work we are doing is designed to protect the environment from the further effects of escalating climate change.”
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