DATE=2/11/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INTERNET HACKING PREVENTION (L-O)
NUMBER=259084
BYLINE=ALISHA RYU
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
CONTENT=
Intro: Alarmed by this week's massive hacker attacks
on some of the world's leading Web sites, many
companies in the United States are racing to
strengthen computer security, installing new software
and training special technicians. But as V-O-A's
Alisha Ryu reports from our West Coast Bureau, even
these measures may not be enough to stop future
attacks.
Text: After a three-day hacker spree that briefly
downed such popular Web sites as Yahoo!, CNN, e-Bay,
and E-Trade, companies across the United States say
they are taking steps to make sure their computer
systems are never compromised again.
Yahoo!, whose site was shut down by hackers for
several hours on Monday, says it has installed special
filters that will monitor Internet traffic and weed
out suspicious requests. The Internet service
provider company, Prodigy, says it is training up to
100 technicians to detect unusual subscriber
activities.
But Internet security experts are not convinced that
companies alone can stop attacks on electronic
commerce. Ira Winkler is president of Internet
Security Advisors Group.
// First Winkler Act //
Being a victim of this attack does not mean they
have poor security. It just means they are a
visible target. What is enabling these attacks
is the poor security of hundreds of systems
around the Internet. The computers that are
being used to attack, I guess they are being
referred to as "zombie" computers, are the ones
demonstrating poor administration.
// End Act //
Experts believe hackers are using these "zombie"
computers, usually unsecured computers belonging to
companies or universities, to secretly install their
attack software. The hackers then instruct these
computers to bombard a Web site with service requests
and overwhelm its capacity.
Mr. Winkler says any unsecure computer can potentially
become a "zombie" computer. He says preventing cyber
attacks must be a cooperative effort.
// Second Winkler Act //
If people who maintain those systems could have
better intrusion detection, better proactive
security measures and watch for misuse of their
networks, they could prevent these attacks.
// End Act //
Space Rogue, a research scientist at the Internet
security company At Stake-dot-com, agrees taking
preventive measures is the best way to fight hacking.
But he worries that message may not reach everyone.
// Rogue Act //
It is going to be interesting to see how these
preventive measures are going to be included as
we go forward. Nobody wants a slow Web page.
When we start applying these filters and routers
and start figuring out where things are going,
all that stuff takes time to do. If one company
puts them in and they are one second slower but
their competitor doesn't put them in and their
pages are not slower, the consumer is going to
go to the faster person. So, it is hard to say
what is going to happen here.
// End Act //
Both experts believe as long as there are unsecured
computers in the world, company Web sites will remain
vulnerable to hackers for the foreseeable future.
(Signed)
NEB/PT
11-Feb-2000 19:50 PM EDT (12-Feb-2000 0050 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
