ip: US cyberwarriors plan assault on Mideast states

[R. A. Hettinga]

--- begin forwarded text


Status:  U
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 22:32:32 -0500
To: believer at telepath.com
From: believer at telepath.com (by way of believer at telepath.com)
Subject: ip: US cyberwarriors plan assault on Mideast states
Cc: starlapureheart at yahoo.com

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=SIEGE-HACKERS-09-17-01&cat=AN

U.S. cyber-warriors plan assault on Mideast sites

By LISA HOFFMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
September 17, 2001

 - There's another call to war ringing out, but this one is not coming from
the White House or Congress.

 It's coming from cyber-space, where some hackers are advocating assaults
by electron on Islamic and Middle Eastern Web sites in retaliation for the
terrorist kamikaze attacks last week in New York, Washington and
Pennsylvania.

 "We have united to fight back," said a group calling itself The
Dispatchers, which claims about 60 members skilled in civilian cyber-combat.

 But other hackers are imploring their brethren in the subterranean reaches
of the Web to resist enlisting in such a campaign. The Chaos Computer Club,
one of the best-known hacker assemblies, said now is not the time to either
cripple the Internet or blanket target sites because of their religious or
ethnic affiliations.

 "We believe in the power of communications, a power that ... in the end is
a more positive force than hatred," the club, based in Germany, said in a
statement.

 Meanwhile, the FBI is reminding hackers that attacking or infiltrating Web
sites or systems, or spreading computer viruses is illegal. The FBI's
National Infrastructure Protection Center said Internet disruptions now
will only hurt America more.

 "These individuals who believe they are doing a service to this nation by
engaging in acts of vigilantism should know that they are actually doing a
disservice to the country," the center said.

 Scattered and sporadic Web site attacks have been reported after the Sept.
11 strikes by suspected followers of Islamic fundamentalist Osama bin Laden
on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked
jetliner crashed near Pittsburgh. Dead and missing so far number more than
5,100.

 The FBI said someone has renamed an e-mail virus after the World Trade
Center in an attempt to spread it further. Several Palestinian-aligned
Internet service providers have been disabled, and two Afghan politics and
news sites were downed. Other Middle Eastern sites have been defaced with
mock "wanted" posters of bin Laden. So far, no significant attacks on U.S.
sites - business or government - have surfaced.

 American computer security firms said they have seen an increase in
companies concerned about protecting their systems. The FBI also is
advising firms to ratchet up their computer security and be alert for
viruses.

 Global conflicts have been mirrored on the Internet for several years.

 Yugoslav Serb Internet users and their sympathizers attacked U.S.
government and NATO Web sites during and after the 1999 Kosovo war. After
the downing of a U.S. spy plane in China in April, Chinese partisans also
tried to blitz American sites, managing to knock some offline but causing
little more than annoyance.

 The Mideast is proving to be a hotbed of hackers, with Israeli and
Palestinian hackers engaged in a protracted cyber-war since tensions
exploded into violence in recent months.

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(Reach Lisa Hoffman at hoffmanl(at)shns.com or visit www.shns.com)

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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'



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