PSP Terror Threat

August 25th, 2006, 22:58 Posted By: wraggster

News Via CNN

Friday, August 25, 2006
D.C. police tackle the PSP terror threat
Could a terrorist use a Sony PlayStation Portable to hack into government networks? In theory, yes, writes Robert A. on PSP3D.com, a videogame-news discussion site. "The PSP has all the prerequisites" for penetrating government networks," says Robert: Wi-Fi and a decently powerful computer chip. "What's stopping terrorists and malicious individuals from sending a child, armed with a PSP ... to walk by the FBI ... building in Washington, D.C. (whose wireless networks reach the public sidewalk alongside the building), and gather data which could be used to thwart the government which protects us?"

That's the theory that Robert A. came up with after he innocently parked his car on Constitution Avenue and decided to play a round of Tekken. Sitting there with the car's lights off, he attracted an officer's attention, and soon found himself sitting on the curb, handcuffed, and interrogated by a crowd of policemen. It seemed absurd at the time, and the police eventually let him go, but reviewing the incident later, Robert concluded that the threat was real: "A portable device equipped with wireless capabilities ... is capable of anything," including hacking into government computer networks. The good -- if discomfiting -- news is that if Robert's theory is accurate, the D.C. police are aware of the threat.

What do you think? Were the police right to question someone who was just playing games?

Thanks to dOOmy for the newstip

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