Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

Yes, you’ve heard it all by now, and have seen the claims that a cyberattack could have caused the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster have been debunked or “fact-checked” by sensationalist, mainstream media that serves the interests of the Left rather than protect our country. If you’re reading this piece, you probably are of the opinion that the mainstream media rarely, if ever, tells the truth. I share that opinion.

Before getting into technical aspects, I should let you know that you are speaking to a cybersecurity expert who has warded off hundreds of major cyber attacks by both foreign and domestic entities on my platform, Wimkin Social Media. Many of these attacks are so sophisticated in nature that they could almost come from no other source than a government entity. As Wimkin was launched as a free speech alternative to Facebook, YouTube and the Jack Dorsey version of Twitter in the runup to the 2020 presidential election, the powers that be became incredibly upset as we offer nearly every feature of the aforementioned platforms combined, and more avenues to disseminate content that goes against the big tech, leftist narrative. As such, our app was banned by Apple and Google Play app stores while we were trending number 1 on both stores in the “Social Networking” categories.

Since our launch in September 2020, we’ve warded off hundreds of DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks and now billions of attempts to breach our multiple firewalls, access our servers and databases, and essentially shut us down. Our very first attack of this “government level” sophistication came one hour prior to the first and only debate between Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden in 2020. Call me a conspiracy theorist, call me what you will. The timing of this cannot be ignored and our being shunned, banned and canceled by our own country’s largest big tech companies at the time of the most significant presidential election any of us has ever witnessed speaks for itself. So, I know a thing or two when it comes to foreign attacks, especially those originating in China, which is responsible for over half of the attacks on Wimkin, as well as how our own government is implicit in their own nefarious acts.

First and foremost, the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster has a terrible amount of “wrongs” with it on its face. The fact the NTSB has stated an investigation will take “1 to 2 years” to complete is very telling. Seeing that the bridge was categorized as “fracture critical,” meaning if one piece fails, the entire bridge will fail, and that the bridge was located in arguably the busiest shipping port in the United States, there would be clear motivation to cause this potential disaster by a foreign adversary. As it stands, the port’s traffic is shut down indefinitely while this investigation continues meaning that all Americans can expect for the foreseeable future, higher costs of goods, higher shipping charges, and other supply and demand bottlenecks while the port remains closed. It is estimated that the loss of maritime traffic will result in losses of $9,000,000.00 for the port, and billions upon billions of dollars while ships are rerouted with the goods that they are responsible for delivering. Only 3% of bridges in the United States are currently categorized as “fracture critical” and none of them in a port as busy as Baltimore. This makes the bridge a prime target as the Port of Baltimore has an extreme amount of traffic of vessels as large as the 984-foot Dali cargo ship, and many pass through that are significantly larger.

WJLA-TV has reported the ship was having multiple power failures while docked at the Port of Baltimore caused by “refrigeration units.” If you believe that a few refrigeration units can cause an entire 984-foot cargo ship to lose complete power, enough to kill all engines and to not spark the generator backups, you probably shouldn’t read the rest of the article. If it is indeed true that the Dali was having these power issues while docked at Port Baltimore, the ship should not have been permitted to leave port, or at the very least, should have been accompanied by tugboats that are common in transportation through ports when ships of this size must pass structures. Had tugboats been accompanying the ship, the disaster could have been averted completely as they could have pulled the ship out of danger. The most telling fact is that the Port of Baltimore has five military bases located within the port and all weren’t warned or were warned and did nothing.

Could a Foreign Adversary Disable a Ship’s Power?

Given that I am responsible for millions of people’s privacy and the security of their personal information, we have the most advanced security systems in place to protect our users and our company from breaches. Such is not the same in the maritime shipping industry. In recent years, seven of the world’s top ten shipping carriers have publicly stated they have been the victims of cyberattacks. Even ports themselves fall victim as seen in 2011 when the Port of Antwerp was completely overtaken by hackers who caused havoc and inventory issues so they could extract millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine and heroin from altered shipment information. Most advanced hackers could overtake an entire port’s operating system in a matter of minutes shutting gates, changing traffic lights which could lead to collision, turning off alarm systems and cameras, kill the entire port’s power, and even distort GPS coordinates and reporting locations for emergency crews to respond to in the event of an emergency. If this is possible for a port to be so compromised, how much easier do you think it would be to compromise a single ship?

In June 2022, David Emm, principal security researcher at Kapersky, a leading cybersecurity company, told CNBC “The reality is that an aeroplane or vessel, like any digital system, can be hacked.” Emm is absolutely correct and the consequences of these attacks would be dire. Also in 2022, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology successfully attempted a cyberattack on a moving vessel where they were able to completely overtake the vessel’s entire operating system down to GPS coordinates, steering, as well as took complete control of the vessel’s main power supply, including the engines. These are college students. Imagine what a foreign enemy such as China and their military could do to our country and infrastructure if they were motivated to do it.

The mainstream media is telling you the Dali couldn’t have been hacked because the FBI is telling them it was not hacked. Count on your two hands how many times the FBI has been caught in lies under the Biden administration and you’ll run out of fingers. To us in the tech industry, we know 100% that any digital operating system can be penetrated and overtaken. We’ve seen an incredible rise in ransomware attacks where these criminals hold entire companies hostage until the company pays what the hackers demand. Fortune-rated companies with thousands of employees that are responsible for millions of people’s sensitive data.

Nations have more motivation to hack other nations than money. China is the most sophisticated nation in the world in terms of technology that controls their society and what they can and cannot do on the internet while doing everything they can to advance their culture through hard work and education. At the very same time, China poisons and pollutes the United States and our children with its  CCP-engineered TikTok application, while stealing incredibly private and valuable data from every user. China despises the United States. China inserts nationals into positions of trust every day to extract data in the United States. Is it really inconceivable that the Francis Scott Key Bridge could have been a cyber attack on the United States’ infrastructure and economy? If it was, would we even be told the truth? The answer is no, as us Americans sit and wait for the next attack on our infrastructure.

Stay vigilant. Stay safe.

Jason Sheppard, founder of Wimkin Social Media, is an entrepreneur and free speech advocate, who has launched numerous social media platforms to provide alternatives to combat big tech censorship.

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