The Silence: The technology & Current news items
- "The concerns that bring you to this Institute - computer security
and threats to information assets - are of central importance to us all.
A few years ago, these conferences were quite rare. "Worms"
and "viruses" were described in biology textbooks, not police
reports. Today terms like these bring to mind crashed networks, massive
disruptions in communications and infrastructure systems, and billions
of dollars in damages."--US Attorney General John Ashcroft, May 2001
http://www.cybercrime.gov/
- "Widespread Software May Disrupt Web Tonight" The Federal
Bureau of Investigation and Internet security organizations urged operators
of business-type computers to prepare for a digital onslaught tonight,
when the virus-like "Code Red" software was expected to spread
so rapidly that it may disrupt the Internet on a global scale. The extraordinary
warning came from grou0ps led by the FBI's cyberprotection unit, the National
Infrastructure Protection Center?.The FBI?urged computer operators to
install a repairing patch for software from Microsoft Corp called Internet
Information Server, which runs about six million Web sites. --The Wall
Street Journal, July 31, 2001
- "Code Red Is Studied for Clues to Its Origin, Possible Tie to Older
Virus"
"?the hunt is on for Patient Zero, or the first victim. ?it is nearly
identical to another piece of rogue software that fizzled after an unsuccessful
attack on a US Dept. of Energy research laboratory in April. ?The earliest
version of Code Red, first discovered July 13, vandalized each victim's
Web site with the message "Hacked by Chinese!" And three of
the computers known to be spreading the infection earliest were inside
China. --The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 6, 2001
- "Tech Skirmish: Energy-Saving Light Bulbs Mar Satellite Radio"
"The microwave-powered bulbs, substitutes for conventional bulbs,
emit radio waves that interfere with another hot technology: satellite
radio. ?paying subscribers may hear static-or silence-if they drive within
a mile of highways lit by the bulbs." --The Wall Street Journal,
Aug. 6, 2001
- "Son of Code Red? New Worm Brings New Risks to Web"
A new week, a new worm? ?The new worm-called Code Red II-potentially poses
more danger than Code Red does. Both spread through a patchable security
hole in Microsoft Corp.'s IIS server software. But the new worm creates
a back door in systems so a hacker can get in and tinker later. --Investor's
Business Daily, Aug. 7, 2001
- "Nimda worm latest to target Internet users"
Attorney General John Ashcroft warned computer users about a new Internet
threat that could slow the global network worse than the "Code Red"
worm that struck earlier this summer. ?"There is no evidence at this
time which links this infection with the terrorist attack of last week"
?"Efforts to isolate and track the worm were hampered by the swiftness
of the attack, said Vincent Gullotto, head anti-virus researcher for McAfee.com.
"It's taken down entire sites; I can't even get to the Internet right
now."--Associated Press, Sept. 19, 2001
- "NIMDA Gives Intruders Administrator Privileges"
?experts from Exodus Communications believe the NIMDA virus is designed
not just to compromise computer systems, but to take over and manipulate
them in the long run. ?it's aware of the Trojan horse left by Code Red
variants, and looks for it on systems. If it finds the Trojan horse, it
will activate it and use it to infect that system. --Interactive Week,
Sept. 19, 2001
- E-BOMB--In the blink of an eye, electromagnetic bombs could throw civilization
back 200 years. And terrorists can build them for $400.
The next Pearl Harbor will not announce itself with a searing flash of
nuclear light or with the plaintive wails of those dying of Ebola or its
genetically engineered twin. You will hear a sharp crack in the distance.
?Fluorescent lights and television sets will glow eerily bright, despite
being turned off. The aroma of ozone mixed with smoldering plastic will
seep from outlet covers as electric wires arc and telephone lines melt.
?Your computer and every bit of data on it will be toast. ?The background
music of civilization, the whirl of internal-combustion engines, will
have stopped. Save a few diesels, engines will never start again. You,
however will remain unharmed. This is not a hypothetical, son-of-Y2K scenario.
It is a realistic assessment of the damage the Pentagon believes could
be inflicted by a new generation of weapons-E-bombs.--Popular Mechanics,
Sept. 2001
- "Hardening The Net's Defenses"
"The number of vulnerabilities in and attacks against the Internet's
infrastructure is growing at an alarming rate. Every week seems to bring
a new and more diabolical worm or virus."--Todd Spangler, Interactive
Week, Oct. 8, 2001.
- "Telco on the frontline"
"[the damage from 9/11]? underscores the vulnerability of the modern
telecom network, a vast jumble of copper and fiber lines, wireless transmitters,
and computers operated by many different phone companies."--Stephanie
Mehta, Fortune Oct. 15, 2001
- "Computer experts say terrorism, cyber-attack could be combined"
"Computer experts asked Congress Wednesday to imagine a terrorist
assault that combines the massive destruction of Sept. 11 with a simultaneous
cyber-attack. Cyber-security expert Terry Benzel?raised chilling "what
if" scenarios as she and her experts called for a crash research
effort to protect computers against a terrorist attack. ?"What is
terrorists were able to impact our communications system, thus hampering
the rescue and recovery efforts?" --Associated Press, Oct. 11, 2001
- "Web Experts See No Simple Security Answers"
"This type of attack on our information-technology infrastructure
will be more frequent and more virulent." -John Gilligan, US Air
Force acting chief information officer. --The Wall Street Journal, Oct.
11, 2001
- "Fear along the firewall"
"A terrorist could collapse the telecommunications nets. This is
an area about which the industry is completely unaware." --FAA Administrator
Langhorne Bond
- "Several years ago, a Russian firm, AviaConversia, offered a $45,000
device not much bigger than a pack of cigarettes, that could disrupt satellite
signals over a 150-mile radius. ?a simpler one can be constructed with
$500 worth of Radio Shack parts." ?
- "The most devastating scenarios we look at today that are not chemical,
biological or radiological tend to be cyber attacks. You can have a greater
impact using fewer resources, and you have a greater certainty of not
being apprehended." --Neil Livingstone, CEO, Global Options (risk-management
firm that employs former FBI and Navy SEAL veterans)
- --Fortune, Oct. 15, 2001.
- "Preparing for a Cyber-Assault"
Future worms could have "sleeper" commands that would coordinate
widespread activation of the virus with a conventional terrorist attack.--Business
Week, Oct. 22, 2001
- "Guarding against cyberterrorism"
"One of the things that terrorists can do with absolute impunity
is cyberintrusions." --John Powers, former executive director of
President Clinton's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection.
"This blended threat is going to be the wave of the future. You're
not going to be easily able to diagnose the attack and stop it."
-Rob Clyde, CTO of Symantec. --InfoWorld, Oct. 22, 2001
- CONVENTION ON CYBERCRIME, Budapest, Hungary, 23 November 2001
The member states of the Council of Europe and thirty-one other States
(countries) of the world concluded the Convention on Cybercrime and published
a 25-page document containing the resolutions of this council.
Within that document, one paragraph is a single lengthy sentence that
reads as follows:
"Convinced that the present Convention is necessary to deter action
directed against the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of computer
systems, networks and computer date as well as the misuse of such systems,
networks and data by providing for the criminalisation of such conduct,
as described in this Convention, and the adoption of powers sufficient
for effectively combating such criminal offences, by facilitating their
detection, investigation and prosecution at both the domestic and international
levels and by providing arrangements for fast and reliable international
cooperation."
More information about this Convention can be found at:
http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Projets/Finalcybercrime.htm
- "?viruses followed in the footsteps of the first modern worm-Melissa,
which struck in may 2000-and built on it with so-called blended threats.
Code Red, for instance, defaced Web servers and installed a distributed-denial-of-service
client. But NIMDA attacked in different ways; through e-mail, infected
Web pages, shared network drives and infected files."--eWeek, Dec.
31, 2001
- "In CyberSpace: Finding Hidden Messages
Seemingly innocuous e-mails sent and received by terminals in public libraries
are virtually impossible to monitor, despite millions of dollars spent
on worldwide electronic eavesdropping systems like the super-secret Echelon?
the sheer volume of e-mail sent today makes it difficult to analyze all
the data collected. ?Even if intercepted, messages can be impossible to
decipher if encrypted. ?there are ways to hide text inside a picture,
audio or video file. ?Easy to use, drag-and-drop steganography software
is widely available on the Internet?--Popular Science, Dec. 2001
- "Will Spyware Work?"
"Even the most sophisticated intelligence paraphernalia still can't
guarantee success when pitted against the malevolent combination of human
ingenuity and capacity for evil." ? "While agencies theoretically
cooperate, especially since September 11, there is no centralized information
system to compare and contrast data collected among them. - MIT Technology
Review, Kevin Hogan, Dec. 2002
- "Networking the Infrastructure"
"[re; terrorism after the 9/11 attacks] One prediction that security
experts can make is that the next attack probably won't resemble the last
one."--MIT Technology Review, Wade Roush, Dec. 2001
- "Right now I don't think it's possible to be too worried?"
[about safeguarding systems] --Weston Nicolls, former NSA (National Security
Agency) executive, now Chief Information Security Officer for Telenisus
Corp. Inc. January 2002.
- "Once you're attacked is not the time to think about how to respond,?"--Mark
Schertler, VP, Primitive Logic reported by Anne Stuart in Inc. magazine,
January 2000.
- "Worm Watchers"
- "Code Red II and Nimda, just two of the new automated menaces (both
technically worms, rather than viruses) now infecting millions of computer
networks. ?such attacks can't be prevented entirely?and can infect networks
without anybody noticing. Code Red II scans the Internet for vulnerable
Web servers and creates "back doors" that allow hackers to control
servers remotely, to date causing $2 billion worth of server downtime
and Internet traffic jams. Nimda spreads automatically via shared files,
Web pages, e-mail and other routes. Infected computers can be cleaned,
but the worms spread with such speed and in such volume that networks
can grind to a halt." --MIT Technology Review, Jan.-Feb. 2002
- "Microsoft said last month that Windows XP suffers from serious
problems that allow hackers to steal or destroy a victim's data files
or implant rogue computer software across the Internet. The glitches were
unusually serious because they allow hackers to seize control of all Windows
XP operating systems software without requiring a computer user to do
anything except connect to the Internet."--From wire news reports
--Associated Press, January 4, 2002
- "Programmers Could Thwart Hacker Attacks With Smarter Software"
"?the glitch in a messaging system [AOL Instant Messenger] used by
more than 100 million worldwide shows how serious the problem is. ? Somebody
could have completely taken over those machines. ? Basically anything
that the user could do by sitting at that machine, a hacker can do from
that machine in an anonymous way." --Avi Rubin, Principal Researcher,
AT&T Labs. --Investors Business Daily, Jan. 22. 2002
- "A packet bounce attack"
"?these flooding packets were coming from the Internet's core routers.
Our own ISP's routers were 'attacking us' as were routers of other large
ISPs, a few of the main DNS root servers, and many of the web servers
belonging to Yahoo.com. ?none of these servers were compromises?.the author
of the attack had falsified the source of the initial packets so they
seemed to come from [our] own IP address." -Steve Gibson, Gibson
Research, --InfoWorld, , Jan. 28. 2002.
- "We're behind the curve in keeping up with the global telecommunications
revolution,?"--Michael Hayden, National Security Agency Director
on CBS's 60-Minutes, Feb. 2001
- "Computer Viruses Strike More Often"
"An exhaustive annual survey shows another jump in the spread of
computer viruses, and security experts see the problem evolving in some
new directions. ?ICSA labs experienced 1.2 million incidents involving
malicious computer code on 666,327 computers during the 20-month period
that ended Aug. 31. ?"The most-damaging virus of 2001, known as Nimda,
broke out after the survey had begun, so the disaster numbers are probably
understated. ?"The world is getting worse. ?You are getting more
and more out of control. ?There are futuristic attacks we can't talk about
that don't even require scripting." --Peter Tippett, TruSecure CTO,---The
Wall Street Journal, Mar. 4, 2002.
- "Cyber security on foreigners to tighten"
"Analysts have long warned about lax security in government computer
systems. 'These [software] systems are wide open', said Ed Yourdon, and
independent expert in technology security policy." --Los Angeles
Times, Charles Piller, March 8, 2002
- "Things will continue to get worse for the foreseeable future.
Systems are getting more complex faster than they are getting more secure."--Bruce
Schneier, Chief Technology Officer, Counterpane Internet Security
- "Special Report//Security"
"In July [2001], one month after Microsoft announced a vulnerability
in Internet Information Server 4.0 and Internet Information Services 5.0,
Code Red, self-propagating malicious code, is released and begins to exploit
IIS-enabled systems. In early August [2001], the Code Red II worm, exploiting
the same vulnerabilities, appears. ?The W32/Nimda worm, taking advantage
of the back doors left behind by the Code Red II worm, is the first to
propagate itself via several methods, including e-mail, network shares
and an infected Web site. The worm spreads from client to Web server by
scanning for back doors." ; --Symantec Corp., CERT, eWeek reporting
in eWeek, March 25, 2002
- "We're seeing an intersection between terrorists focusing on infrastructure
and their use of Internet-based attacks to do so. Alan Paller, director
of research at SANS, --eWeek, March 25, 2002
- "Computer Security Students Now Funded"
"Officials warned it would be only a matter of time before terrorists
learned to exploit vulnerabilities in major systems, from air traffic
and banking to spacecraft navigation and defense. --Associated Press,
Matthew Fordahl
- "Disaster Prevention Strategies"
"A recent survey of 300 companies in 25 countries by Riptech, a provider
of security services, found that attackers per company increased by 79%
between July 2001 and Dec. 2001. ?Last year, the researchers estimate
that companies lost just under $15 billion due to computer viruses alone.
? In fact, many of today's most sophisticated worms, viruses, and Trojan
horses are spread inadvertently by employees working through existing
firewalls using instant messaging software or music file-sharing sites."
--Insert to Baseline, Spring 2002.
- "Many Hacked Corporations Keep Quiet"
"Most large corporations and government agencies have been attacked
by computer hackers, but they frequently do not inform authorities of
the breaches, an FBI survey finds. ?90% of respondents detected computer
security breaches but only 34% reported these attacks to authorities."
; --Associated Press, , D. Ian Hopper, April 7, 2002
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