August 08, 2008

Death Star Threat Modeling

Oh man this is kewl.

If you are unsure about what threat modeling is, and want to learn about it, check out these videos from a presentation Brian Williams did at HOPE. The concepts of threat modeling explained using Star Wars references... simply awesome!

Part 1:

Part2:

Part 3:

Posted by SilverStr at August 8, 2008 05:17 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Good presentation. I wish it didn't make me think so much. Consider for example the shield generator on Endor: it will be firing its shield roughly just-about 25,000 miles* to where the Death Star II orbited geosynchronously over the planet.

At that distance, what accuracy is necessary to envelop the Death Star in a shield? More to the point, what would it take to deflect the shield enough to leave the Death Star vulnerable?

The upshot being, one doesn't need a complicated and difficult Ewok battle to penetrate the secure bunker and take the shield generator offline. Just drop a nuke near enough to the shield generator to knock it off target. Even if the generator is protected by its own shield, at some point the tracking system rests on the planet's crust. Hammer the surface with a nuke, and you'll buckle the surface and deflect that generator so it no longer can point at the Death Star.

And as a side benefit, you'll toast millions of Ewoks.

Of course, this kind of twisted thinking is what happens when one applies any thought at all to the holes in the plots of the Star Wars movies, but I never would have wasted these mental energies if it weren't for this brilliant presentation...

*or whatever altitude works for that planet, I get it

Posted by: Albatross at August 18, 2008 12:16 PM
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