http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~crypt/other/adams.htm
United Press International journalist James Adams' new book, "The Next
World War," is a priceless example of how mainstream reporters continue to
propagate old myths and hoaxes about information warfare.
Adams recirculates the hoary tale of the Gulf War printer virus hoax in
his book on the future of combat. If true, Crypt Newsletter supposes
future combat will be mighty cheap, being fought primarily with dueling
virus hoaxes and other info-war myths.
This hoax's many permutations revolve around the central idea that the NSA
developed a computer virus for use in the Gulf War, a virus that was used
to disable the enemy's air defense system. Supposedly secreted in a
microchip in a printer destined for Iraq, the virus was supposed to
somehow emerge from the printer and bushwhack Iraqi air defense computers
hooked to the same network.
This was the result of a bald-faced April Fool's story that appeared in
Infoworld magazine, subsequently taken seriously and presented as such by
US News and World Report in "Triumph Without Victory," the latter
publication's book on the Gulf War.
"The Next World War" is just another in a long line of examples sprinkled
through the mainstream media and other seemingly authoritative sources
that have been taken in by this joke. Indeed, the Gulf War virus hoax is
an almost inescapable component of computer lore -- the operative word
being lore.
Rob Rosenberger of Virus Myths comments, "Too bad [Adams] didn't do more
research . . . [he] gives the story an interesting twist. The virus didn't
get a chance to do its job because the U.S. Air Force accidentally bombed
the building where Iraq stored the printers!"
"The 'Gulf War printer virus' story carries no credibility, no matter how
highly placed the source" or whatever mutation it appears in," added
Rosenberger.
However, the Gulf War virus hoax isn't the only virtual Piltdown Man to
appear in "The Next World War."
Adams also bites on the chupacabras of info-war, the electromagnetic pulse
gun built from Radio Shack parts.
In 1996, Forbes ASAP magazine interviewed a crew of hackers who insisted
an electromagnetic pulse gun -- a kind of electric ray that could be used
to destroy PCs from afar -- could be built from Radio Shack parts and car
batteries.
In the story, entitled "Hack Attack," the Forbes reporter queries the
"dangerous ex-hackers" about electromagnetic pulse guns. In response they
spin a fantastic tale of its use -- again, against Iraq. [Part of this
interview appears in Adams' "The Next World War."]
The section of the original from Forbes ASAP is digested here:
Forbes writer: Have you ever heard of a device that directs magnetic
signals at hard disks and can scramble the data?
Dangerous ex-hackers, in unison: Yes! A HERF [high energy radio frequency]
gun.
Dangerous ex-hacker A: This is my nightmare. $300: a rucksack full of car
batteries, a microcapacitor and a directional antenna and I could point it
at Oracle . . . You could park it in a car and walk away. It's a $300 poor
man's nuke . . .
Dangerous ex-hacker A: There are only three or four people who know how to
build them, and they're really tight lipped . . . We used these in the
Persian Gulf. We cooked the radar installation.
In other parts of the article the hackers comment that there are a lot of
"snake oil salesmen" in the computer security business.
"The Next World War's" mention of the electromagnetic pulse gun
chupacabras is fairly characteristic of the literature on the subject.
Claims are made of a mysterious technology capable of doing bad deeds to
computer networks. The weapons are in the hands of hackers, criminals,
terrorists, or shadowy Russian scientists -- never sources of much
credibility or ones that can be easily located. No examples are ever
produced. No incidents of computer damage by electromagnetic pulse gun are
ever provided that can be independently verified.
"The Next World War" is a good example of the problem faced by the average
reader with little experience in the area of discussion. Simply, the
layman has a great deal of difficulty distinguishing between hoaxes and
reality, particulary once such tales have become embedded in sources
traditionally taken to be "authoritative."
-o-
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Received on Mon Sep 14 08:49:33 1998