(March 21, 1998 00:30 a.m. EST http://www.nando.net) -- A teen hacker
who calls himself "Analyzer" sat in a McDonald's in a Tel Aviv suburb
one day recently and boasted to an Israeli online magazine that he
helped orchestrate what a top Pentagon official called "the most
organized and systematic attack" ever on U.S. military computers.
"Analyzer" said he trained one of the two California teens under
investigation accused of burrowing into at least 11 military computer
systems. The Defense Department acknowledged the break-ins last month.
"I gave him some hacking tools I've programmed and some access
passwords to my servers," the Israeli youth was quoted as saying in
the magazine Walla! "I have system manager access to over 1,000
Internet servers and to over 120,000 accounts on these servers. I
never destroy a thing on a server; the challenge is breaking in."
So far, Internet pranksters have been behind most large-scale computer
break-ins at military bases, government agencies and research labs.
Gaining access is often its own reward.
However, as the United States and the rest of the world become
increasingly reliant on information technology, Congress and the
Clinton administration have been forced to pay more attention to the
growing threat of assaults from malicious hackers, electronic thieves
and even terrorists or hostile nations that might target banks,
telephone networks, air-traffic control centers and other public or
commercial networks.
Some experts, in fact, have implored the nation to be alert for
nothing less than "an electronic Pearl Harbor."
The administration's computer-protection strategy will emphasize
better cooperation between government and industry.
At its forefront would be a new center charged with coordinating
efforts between government agencies and various industries in
responding to electronic threats to critical government and business
operations.
Attorney General Janet Reno has asked for $64 million more in fiscal
1999 to pay for the center, as well as the salaries of 75 new FBI
agents and 24 assistant U.S. attorneys to handle Internet crimes.
After several hearings on computer security over the past two years,
Congress is waiting to see what Clinton does before trying to
establish a role for itself. Some lawmakers who have closely studied
the issue, however, believe the federal government has a
responsibility not to leave all solutions up to the private sector.
"Everyone says that there has to be teamwork, but what needs to be
said is that government must take the lead," said Sen. Jon Kyl,
R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism,
Technology and Government Information. "Industry has to be told what
the government needs ... Until the government is seen to recognize the
threat in a significant way, it's a little hard to get industry to
really focus on the threat."
Kyl considers the issue "maybe the most difficult and important
national security and public safety concern our nation's leadership
will face in the months and years to come."
Though the United States and a handful of friendly industrial nations
lead the world in computer technology and Internet use, others are
catching up. Lawmakers have learned in classified briefings, Kyl said,
that foreign groups are increasingly capable of mounting information
warfare against the United States.
Defense Department computers that hackers were able to access in last
month's attack contained only unclassified information. Although
hackers have been known to deface Web pages and roam other internal
government sites, classified data is more closely safeguarded and is
much more difficult for outside users to penetrate.
Worries about vulnerability surfaced again this month, when an unknown
hacker caused computer systems to crash at nine of NASA's major field
offices, as well as at universities such as the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and the University of California at Berkeley.
For now, Kyl and other lawmakers consider it premature to debate any
particular legislative fix until they learn more about the dimensions
of the problem. Computer security experts applaud such a stance.
"This is a horribly complex issue with an enormous amount of technical
detail," said Willis Ware, a longtime computer-security expert for
RAND Corp. and chairman of a National Institute of Standards and
Technology computer security advisory board. "Congress doesn't do well
with that kind of issue."
Industry officials also warn that lawmakers must be sensitive in
balancing security concerns with the rampant growth of the Internet
and the bright forecast for electronic commerce. The administration
has advocated a hands-off approach in endorsing the idea of making the
Internet a "global free trade zone."
"Laws move at the speed of Congress. The Internet moves at the speed
of light," said Russell B. Stevenson Jr., general counsel for
CyberCash Inc., a provider of on-line payment systems. "Congress
should keep that in mind when it is formulating policy regarding the
electronic infrastructure."
==
There's a compelling reason to master information & news.
Clearly there will be better job and financial opportunites.
Other high stakes will be missed by people if they don't
master and connect information. -- Everette Dennis
==
http://www.dis.org/erehwon/
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Received on Sat Mar 21 09:43:16 1998