A-Infos (en) Hackers attacked pentagon unclassified networks

[MichaelP <papadop@PEAK.ORG>]

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     Pentagon comes under attack by hackers
   
   By Martin Kettle in Washington
   
The Guardian   Thursday February 26, 1998
   
   The Pentagon's unclassified computer networks were hit by "fairly
   heavy cyber attacks" from hackers during the military and diplomatic
   stand-off with Iraq, a senior defence department official revealed
   yesterday.
   
   The assault on some of the United States military's most closely
   guarded computer systems during the past two weeks was "the most
   organised and systematic attack the Pentagon has seen to date", said
   John Hamre, the deputy secretary of defence.
   
   But the attacks, which are being investigated by the Pentagon, the FBI
   and the justice department, did not appear to have a direct connection
   with the Iraqi confrontation. They had "all the appearances of a game"
   and were probably perpetrated by "a small number of individuals", he
   said.
   
   The hackers' attacks were concentrated on the Pentagon's unclassified
   systems, such as personnel and payroll records, Mr Hamre said. All the
   services based in the Pentagon were "penetrated to some degree".
   Although "widespread and modestly sophisticated", he characterised the
   attacks as "voyeurism or vandalism".
   
   "Our classified networks were intact and not penetrated," Mr Hamre
   said.
   
   The attacks will inevitably underline concern about potentially
   devastating assaults by hackers and "cyber terrorists". Last October,
   President Bill Clinton's commission on critical infrastructure
   protection warned that "the potential for disaster is real". The
   report, by retired air force general Robert Marsh, set out a five-year
   plan to increase the security of sensitive government and private
   sector computer systems in defence, power, banking and
   telecommunications.
   
   In December, interior and justice ministers from the Group of Seven
   leading economic powers, including the Home Secretary, Jack Straw,
   signed an agreement in Washington to co-ordinate efforts against
   digital crime.
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