Events Surrounding September 11
In the months before and after September 11, 2001, the United States was bombarded with a series of cyber attacks. A group of criminals exposed vulnerabilities in the Microsoft operating system, and created a buffer overflow virus, which executed arbitrary code and infected hundreds of thousands of computers. By July 19, 2001, the amount of infected hosts reached over 350,000 zombies. A series of separate viruses named Code Red I and Code Red II crippled valuable servers and made calculated attacks on US government computers.
On September 18, 2001, a new virus attacked United States operating systems. The worm was given the name Nimda, and it was an advanced version of Code Red II. Some might say that the Code Red viruses were created in preparation for the much larger Nimda attack, which was executed the week following the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Due to the release date of the virus, members of the American government speculated on a link between the cyber attacks and Al Qaeda, but this theory ended up proving unfounded. The American media did not report much on the virus because of the terrorist attacks.
Multiple propagation vectors allowed Nimda to become the Internet’s most widespread and dangerous virus. It took only 22 minutes for the worm to rip through the American financial sector, causing over $3 billion in damage. The Nimda virus was so effective because it used five different infection vectors. People could, and still can, get the virus via e-mail, open network shares, infected websites, exploitation or via back doors left behind by the Code Red II virus. The group of people behind the Nimda virus and the theft of billions of dollars are unknown. The event greatly damaged the world’s financial sector and economy.
In the months following September 11, 2001, there was a wave of international accidents and events. On September 21, 2001, the AZF chemical factory located near Toulouse, France exploded. The event occurred when three hundred tons of ammonium nitrates ignited. The blast left a crater with a depth of 20 to 30 m (65 to 100 ft), and with a diameter of 200 m (650 ft). It was a major incident in France, and 29 people were killed. The event is recognized as an environmental catastrophe, and the total damages already paid by insurance groups are exceeding 1.5 billion euros. The blast is believed to have occurred due to the improper handling of ammonium nitrate, including the mixing of chemical impurities. However, on October 2, 2001, France’s then Environment Minister, Yves Cochet, announced that the explosion “may have been a terrorist attack” and identified Hassan Jandoubi as a person of interest.
On October 4, 2001, Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 crashed over the Black Sea. The plane was en route from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Novosibirsk, Russia, and all 78 people aboard were killed. The crash was initially thought to be a terrorist attack, since an Armenian plane near the scene reported seeing the Russian plane explode before it crashed into the sea. However, American intelligence reported that the crash was due to an errant S-200 surface to air missile fired as part of a Ukrainian Air Defense Forces exercise. Many people have labeled this hypothesis unlikely, considering the missiles range and safety features, claiming that the US was in fear of mass hysteria with yet another terrorist attack in the weeks following September 11. Ultimately, the government of Ukraine officially recognized their military’s fault in the accident and started negotiating compensation payments for victims’ relatives.
On November 12, 2001, the United States experienced its second deadliest aviation accident in history. It occurred when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, New York. The accident took place two months after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and it caused panic in New York. Thousands of people witnessed the Airbus A300 crash to the ground, killing all 260 people on board. Many people reported a fire and explosion before the plane crashed, but the National Transportation Safety Board attributed the disaster to the first officer’s overuse of rudder controls. Al-Qaeda has listed the crash among its successes, but physical evidence was never presented indicating terrorist activity. Surprisingly, the story was widely underreported in the United States, considering the magnitude of the crash. In the months after the tragedy, rumors were circulated that suggested that the plane was exploded by a shoe bomber, similar to the failed attempt of Richard Reid, but these claims are unsubstantiated.
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