DATE=12/15/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=MILLENNIUM: FUTUREWAR IN CYBERSPACE
NUMBER=5-45004
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=PENTAGON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Top Pentagon officials say the United States
is in a virtual war in cyberspace, while experts
outside government say America is being "invaded,"
every hour of every day, by hostile forces using
computers. Many of these incidents are minor
annoyances launched by young computer hackers. Others
are launched by sophisticated nations and could cost
American lives. The irony is that this new threat
stems from the technical sophistication that helps
make the U-S military the strongest in the world.
V-O-A's Jim Randle reports.
TEXT: The Pentagon's second-in-command, John Hamre,
says U-S military computer networks are being
constantly probed by hostile computer experts who are
trying to break in and disrupt communications, steal
information, plant misinformation, or cause other
damage.
At least twice this year, Dr. Hamre has said the
United States was in the middle of a cyber war - and
the pace of attacks on U-S Military computers has
increased since then.
/// Hamre Act ///
We are in a day to day, virtual cold war. In
that sense that we have people trying to disrupt
the Department of Defense's computers on a daily
basis. So far, we are staying ahead of the
problem. But just barely.
/// END ACT ///
In an interview with V-O-A, Deputy Secretary of
Defense Hamre says the most worrisome attacks show a
level of skill likely to come only from a well-
educated, well-trained cadre of cyber soldiers
financed and supported by the government of a major
nation.
Some computer experts outside the U-S government, such
as Frank Ciffullo of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, say the danger is real and
constant.
/// Ciffullo Act ///
The myth persists that the United States hasn't
been invaded since 1812. I'd like to inform you
otherwise. And that is the fact that invasion
through cyberspace is now a daily occurrence.
/// End Act ///
The U-S military's computers are vulnerable to probes
and break-ins because they are linked to each other by
the internet or other communications systems. The
military computers need these linkages to send masses
of information back and forth at the speed of light.
Experts say the U-S military cannot just disconnect
from the network because it needs computers to do
everything from monitoring threats from ballistic
missiles to ordering vital supplies for front line
units.
But clever attackers can use such networks to locate
critical computers. Then they use stolen passwords or
other devices to fool them into thinking that the
attacker has legitimate business inside the computer.
Pentagon officials say there are 80 to 100 attempted
computer break-ins each day and the number is growing.
About 10 such daily attacks are serious enough to
warrant investigation and a percentage turn out to be
what officials call "serious business" that threatens
lives, property, or secrets.
Many U-S officials say cyber warfare is tempting for
their adversaries because the overwhelming power of
U-S military forces makes conventional attacks
unlikely to succeed. /// Opt /// Experts say
computer warfare requires a high level of education
and skill, but the cost of a workable cyber war
program is less than the price of one first class
fighter plane. /// End Opt ///
Meanwhile, several reports blame Russia for a series
of sophisticated attacks apparently aimed at stealing
U-S Navy codes and other highly secret and sensitive
information. U-S officials refuse to say which groups
or countries are behind these attacks.
Mr. Ciffullo says attackers take advantage of the
complex, anonymous nature of cyberspace, which can
make it quite difficult to figure out where attacks
are coming from, and who is behind them, frustrating
attempts at deterrence or revenge.
/// Ciffullo Act ///
If I'm targeting the United States, I'm not
going to leave muddy footprints back to my
country, back to my site. In fact, I will
exploit innocent sites along the way, say
university systems in Stockholm and Hamburg, and
by the time you do your audit trail (try to
trace the attack), I've zapped off a long time
ago (gotten off the network).
/// End Act ///
Mr. Ciffullo says there are plenty of suspects. He
says the F-B-I is investigating at least 23 cases of
suspected computer espionage, some aimed at the
military, others directed at U-S based companies.
And he says at least eight nations, ranging from
Russia and China to Western nations such as France and
Britain, have information warfare programs comparable
to the ones being developed in the United States. He
says China is even considering making cyber warfare a
separate branch of service on a par with the Chinese
air force, army and navy.
Meantime, the U-S Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines
recently combined their efforts to defend computer
networks under the U-S Space Command headquartered in
Colorado Springs, Colorado. Each military service
also watches over its own computers.
One of the U-S Navy's cyber-sentries is Petty Officer
First Class Reed Smith, who sits with colleagues in a
large room (in Norfolk, Virginia) filled with
computers, watching for any unusual patterns in the
masses of traffic on the information highway. He is
aided by computer programs designed to seek out odd
patterns, computer databases that let him compare what
he is seeing to prior attempted break-ins - and
instinct honed by experience.
/// Smith Act ///
So much information (is) passed from network to
network that our intrusion detection devices may
pick up on something that is totally benign.
/// End Act ///
By next October, the United States will have a
military unit dedicated to launching its own attacks
in cyberspace.
America's top General, Hugh Shelton, says Washington
conducted some limited offensive cyber warfare
operations against Yugoslavia during the Kosovo
crisis. He would not say what the targets were, but
experts say the attacks focused on confusing and
blinding Yugoslav air defenses in the last 10 days of
the war. Some critics of the program called it too
timid and too late.
/// Opt /// U-S officials say they must solve some
moral and legal issues - as well as practical problems
- before cyber warfare becomes a mature part of the U-
S arsenal.
The second in command of the Pentagon's cyber war
efforts, Navy Captain Bob West, says cyber warriors
have to follow the same rules of war as any other
fighters - avoiding civilian deaths and focusing on
military targets. U-S officials have written that
using cyber attacks to hit mostly civilian areas by
opening the floodgates on a dam or causing an oil
refinery to blow up in a residential area, are out of
bounds. /// End Opt ///
Computer expert Frank Ciffullo says U-S offensive
cyber war efforts are inhibited by the realization
that the United States is the most technologically
advanced society on earth - and therefore, the most
potentially vulnerable to computer-based attacks. He
says U-S officials do not want to give their enemies a
powerful example of the effectiveness of cyber
weapons.
Meantime, computer security expert George Smith is
skeptical that offensive military operations will work
very well in cyberspace.
For years, Mr. Smith has been writing a newsletter on
computer break-ins - and how to deal with them. He
says Pentagon officials are overstating the danger
from computer hackers and intruders. /// Opt /// Mr.
Smith says computers and computer networks are
maddeningly unreliable, and computer operators and
people who depend on computers are well used to
dealing with breakdowns and delays of the sort that
might be caused by computer attackers.
Nevertheless, he expects the United States and many
other nations to try to create "cyber-attack" forces.
/// Smith Act ///
I think it is likely that people will try, I
think it is unlikely they will have any impact.
/// End Act // - End Opt ///
Mr. Smith says armies in Bosnia and the Gulf War faced
computer problems, including viruses. He says they
coped with them in much the same way they coped with
flat tires on vehicles, or worn out parts on aircraft.
He says the idea that small groups of people, armed
only with keyboards, could seriously hurt a powerful
military force belongs in Hollywood - not the
battlefield. (Signed).
NEB/JM/JP
15-Dec-1999 12:59 PM EDT (15-Dec-1999 1759 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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