[ZDNet] (4.22.98) In spite of boasts by a hackers' group that
it managed to breach the Department of Defense computer network
housing classified U.S. government data, a Pentagon spokeswoman
said Wednesday that no such breach had occurred.
While Pentagon networks were hacked for the third time in recent
months, the data accessed by the hackers "was not classified
information," according to agency spokeswoman Sue Hanson.
"While we're certainly not happy about this, the public should
know that the most sensitive data was not touched" by the
intruders, Hanson said.
On Tuesday, an international group jokingly calling itself the
Masters of Downloading/2016216 claimed it broke into the
telecommunications network that serves the DOD in order
to steal classified data.
"It's starting to paint a poor picture of our military -- and
is past time for a mere wake-up call," said Ira Winkler, former
director of technology for the National Security Agency.
"This is the 23rd wake-up call," added Winkler, who is president
of the Information Security Advisors Group and author of the book
"Corporate Espionage."
"It's nothing new. The Pentagon is not giving the right attention
and resources to system security," Winkler added.
The Department of Defense confirmed the break-in late on Tuesday.
According to interviews published on hacker Web site AntiOnline,
the MOD hackers have used proprietary government software to
access the DOD's Defense Information Systems Network, or DISN.
The software, called the DISN Equipment Manager software suite,
is a proprietary application for accessing the DOD's network.
In and of itself, this is no call for concern, said Lt. Col.
Tom Begines, a DOD spokesman.
"The (application) is ... unclassified ... and does not contain
any classified information," he said, adding that he could not
say whether the software allowed access to classified or sensitive
data.
Members of the MOD group said Tuesday the data they had accessed
could be sold to foreign governments or international terrorist
groups.
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Received on Wed Apr 22 19:15:50 1998