[Clips] Hacker attacks in US linked to Chinese military: researchers
R. A. Hettinga
rah at shipwright.com
Mon Dec 12 21:29:59 EST 2005
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Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:39:51 -0500
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From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
Subject: [Clips] Hacker attacks in US linked to Chinese military: researchers
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<http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/12/051212224756.jwmkvntb.html>
BREITBART.COM -
Hacker attacks in US linked to Chinese military: researchers
Dec 12 5:56 PM US/Eastern
A systematic effort by hackers to penetrate US government and industry
computer networks stems most likely from the Chinese military, the head of
a leading security institute said. The attacks have been traced to the
Chinese province of Guangdong, and the techniques used make it appear
unlikely to come from any other source than the military, said Alan Paller,
the director of the SANS Institute, an education and research organization
focusing on cybersecurity.
"These attacks come from someone with intense discipline. No other
organization could do this if they were not a military organization,"
Paller said in a conference call to announced a new cybersecurity education
program.
In the attacks, Paller said, the perpetrators "were in and out with no
keystroke errors and left no fingerprints, and created a backdoor in less
than 30 minutes. How can this be done by anyone other than a military
organization?"
Paller said that despite what appears to be a systematic effort to target
government agencies and defense contractors, defenses have remained weak in
many areas.
"We know about major penetrations of defense contractors," he said.
Security among private-sector Pentagon contractors may not be as robust,
said Paller, because "they are less willing to make it hard for mobile
people to get their work done."
Paller said the US government strategy appears to be to downplay the
attacks, which has not helped the situation.
"We have a problem that our computer networks have been terribly and
deeply penetrated throughout the United States ... and we've been keeping
it secret," he said.
"The people who benefit from keeping it secret are the attackers."
Although Paller said the hackers probably have not obtained classified
documents from the Pentagon, which uses a more secure network, it is
possible they stole "extremely sensitive" information.
He said it has been documented that US military flight planning software
from its Redstone Arsenal was stolen.
Pentagon officials confirmed earlier this year that US Defense Department
websites are probed hundreds of times a day by hackers, but maintained that
no classified site is known to have been penetrated by hackers.
The US military has code-named the recent hacker effort "Titan Rain" and
has made some strides in counter-hacking to identify the attackers, Paller
said. This was first reported by Time magazine.
Paller said a series of attacks on British computer networks reported
earlier this year may have similar goals, but seems to use different
techniques.
In the United States, he said there are some areas of improvement such as
the case of the Air Force, which has been insisting on better security from
its IT vendors. But he argued that "the fundamental error is that America's
security strategy relies on writing reports rather than hardening systems."
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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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-----------------
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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