Military Looking Abroad for Source of Cyber Attack on Pentagon

Richard · 11-24-2008, 08:21

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/11/20/pentagon-cyber-siege-unprecedented-attack/

The Pentagon has suffered from a cyber attack so alarming that it has taken the unprecedented step of banning the use of external hardware devices, such as flash drives and DVD's.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/11/21/source-cyber-attack-pentagon-come-china/

The cyber attack on the Department of Defense that has led to a ban on the use of external hardware devices could have come from a number of foreign countries, possibly Russia, though the military is dismissing earlier reports that China was the source of the threat.

Richard's $.02

SF_BHT · 11-24-2008, 08:33

Like I always say "Never let your guard down"

This is not new but it must have been a good one this time. Russia has shown a good capability at this. China is also good at Cyber warefare. We get hits at my office from China and NK on a weekley basis. Keeps the Tech staff working and gives them job security.

**Roguish Lawyer** · 11-24-2008, 09:09

Since when is banning flash drives an "extraordinary" step? There definitely is a trend to do that to prevent IP theft from corporations.

JJ_BPK · 11-24-2008, 14:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roguish Lawyer

Since when is banning flash drives an "extraordinary" step? There definitely is a trend to do that to prevent IP theft from corporations.

I'll have to ask my son-in-law. He's at Northrop-Grumman and I thought he told me they have just mandated that ALL TRANSPORTABLE company data be stored on flash drives with mega-encryption.

We were talking, a while back, about his frequent travels and the TSA statement that they can confiscate & copy anything you carry thru an airport for no reason..

Their encryption level renders the flash drive useless to anyone, even if one was to disassemble the stick and attempt to install the mem chip in another system..

That may be the thread with the Pentagon,, They can't tell what is in the flash-drive,, so they ban the use???

In the case of DVDs and JPEG pictures, they have a long history of hidden data and unless you know where to look, it is almost impossible to find.

So,, there is precedence,, geeks have known it for years...

Problem is the physical size of the latest commercial Micro-SD is very very small and can carry 64GB. That is equivalent to my complete system, with 20,000 pictures and movies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroSD

Just read thru the articles,,, The threat was perceived to be somewhere on the GIG,, It could have been any PC connected in the Sand Box or any PC on any US military base or Embassy, in the world...

Longstreet · 11-24-2008, 14:24

A couple of nights ago on the Discovery Channel there was a documentary (sorry I cannot remember the name of the program) about the threats of a cyber attack - viruses in particular - and as mentioned it is feared that such attacks will come from China or Russia.

The documentary mentioned the blackout that the eastern US and Canada had a few years ago and while it was classified as human error, this documentary argued that the power failure was due to a cyber attack.

It is unbelievable just how reliant we are on computers. The show concluded that the next world war will not be fought using bombs or weapons, but will be launched using computers.

As always I took the documentary with a grain of salt, but it was a little unnerving when they filmed a hacker break into a large international bank in about five minutes.

Richard · 11-25-2008, 06:44

Cyber-threat was always an issue in NATO by the anti-war at any cost crowd; at that time it was mostly Dutch cyber-weenies attempting to break our systems.

Richard's $.02

**Kyobanim** · 11-25-2008, 10:02

If they want to get serious they need to eliminate the people working from home. Their reliance on CAC readers to protect their network is absurd when you look at all the people that don't use firewalls on their personal PCs.

**The Reaper** · 11-25-2008, 10:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyobanim

If they want to get serious they need to eliminate the people working from home. Their reliance on CAC readers to protect their network is absurd when you look at all the people that don't use firewalls on their personal PCs.

They also refuse to extend the anti-virus and firewall protection license to retirees and contractors, although they have access to AKO.

TR

**Razor** · 11-25-2008, 12:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kyobanim

If they want to get serious they need to eliminate the people working from home.

No can do. National Security Presidential Directive 51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 mandate government agencies (including DoD) to establish, exercise and update Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans, to include social distancing and alternate work location operations.

**Kyobanim** · 11-25-2008, 15:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razor

No can do. National Security Presidential Directive 51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 mandate government agencies (including DoD) to establish, exercise and update Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans, to include social distancing and alternate work location operations.

Ok, I can understand the need for spreading out or critical resources. I'm talking about the contract companies that have their employees working from home. Programmers, sysadmins, etc., that have access to the network. I know of 2 contractors who had their systems compromised while on CAC. The only repercussions from this was the offending parties had to re-take the IA classes and promise to secure their systems.

Also, the IA reqs say that if you work from home you are supposed to have anti-virus software, working firewall, and a seperate and securable workspace; i.e. secure room. Very seldom, if ever, is this verified.