U.S. Fears Al Qaeda Cyber Attacks (A MUST-READ)

The Washington Post ^ | June 26, 2002 | Barton Gellman

[Timesink]

Unsettling signs of al Qaeda's aims and skills in cyberspace have led some government experts to conclude that terrorists are at the threshhold of using the Internet as a direct instrument of bloodshed. The new threat bears little resemblance to familiar financial disruptions by hackers responsible for viruses and worms. It comes instead at the meeting points between computers and the physical structures they control.

[Timesink]

This is a Washington Post article, click here to read it in full.

Warning: It's VERY long.

[Timesink]

Can moderators fix the "Author" field in article postings? I screwed this one up. Author is one Barton Gellman.

Thanks!

[Timesink]

Thurs., 11 a.m. EDT: Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman will be online to discuss this story.

[old-ager]

Because the digital controls were not designed with public access in mind, they typically lack even rudimentary security, with fewer safeguards than the purchase of flowers online

I have a marketing idea for the credit card companies. Facilitate putting security on such systems by wrapping them in a plain old e-commerce web front end. Then allow operators to log in using their credit cards. Charge the card, say, a nickel for each access. This way, all access is tracked by the credit card infrastructure. For discussion.

[sheik yerbouty]

If rthe jihadists are first destroyed, they can't carry out there nefarious plans! wake up America!

[Timesink]

This is just one more reason why more people should be getting ham radio licenses. If the nation's telephone systems go down, the hams will be the only ones able to communicate.

[milestogo]

Late last fall, Detective Chris Hsiung of the Mountain View, Calif., police department began investigating a suspicious pattern of surveillance against Silicon Valley computers. From the Middle East and South Asia, unknown browsers were exploring the digital systems used to manage Bay Area utilities and government offices. Hsiung, a specialist in high-technology crime, alerted the FBI's San Francisco computer intrusion squad.

Working with experts at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the FBI traced back trails of a broader reconnaissance. A forensic summary of the investigation, prepared in the Defense Department, said the bureau found "multiple casings of sites" nationwide. Routed through telecommunications switches in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Pakistan, the visitors studied emergency telephone systems, electrical generation and transmission, water storage and distribution, nuclear power plants and gas facilities. Uh-oh..

[Lockbox]

Counterterrorist analysts have known for years that al Qaeda prepares for attacks with elaborate "targeting packages" of photographs and notes.

We keep reading about 'visitors' seen taking photos of water installations, etc. Yet nothing is do since they are on 'vacation'.

Time to shoot first and ask questions later.

[Cachelot]

Timely, very timely. What can be done in this way is sort of mindboggling, if you pay some attention.

Goes far beyond the article and what they refer the intruders having looked at.

[dr_who]

Some people here must get an orgasmic high out of being afraid of claptrap that shows up in newspapers. Maybe if they're lucky, there'll be another asteroid on a collision course with Earth when CNN comes to terms with the arrival of another hot, dull August.

[OldFriend]

Do be careful......when you bury your head in the sand it's usually your posterior that is exposed!

[daviddennis]

Fascinating article; thanks for posting it.

Seems to me we have to take these devices off the Internet without further delay. Either that or use iron-clad authentication protocols.

The use of cryptographic certificates for control of devices would probably solve this problem at reasonable cost.

D

[dr_who]

You're the one who should be digging really deep holes for yourself, remember?

[Prodigal Son]

I've been very puzzled why the terrorists haven't striven to do this type of thing. The only explanation I can come up with is they're idiots with a wanton lust for blood and killing. As the Devil's Advocate for a moment, sure, spectacular attacks on citizenry, military, and property look pretty impressive on television and I suppose if I were waging a terroristic war against an entire culture I would include them in my plans. But, really, these type (bloody) attacks serve to unite and strengthen the resolve of the people you attack and in that sense they are counterproductive.

A long, drawn out guerrilla war where the attacks were targeted at the infrastructure of the culture would be much more effective even if they weren't "sexy" to potential recruits. Just slowly bleed the culture's economy to death- this so called 'death from a thousand cuts'. Some items I would try to accomplish if I were in their shoes:

• Once a week phoney airline bomb threats that caused the evacuation of a different airport every time- this would cost the airline industry a hell of a lot of money
• Cyber attacks on important websites (sites with a lot of traffic)
• I would spread rumors that my org (again I'm playing the Devil's Advocate here) was going to start killing children's pets in quiet neighborhoods. I would make sure that children learned of these rumors (leave graffiti/anonymous notes at school yards) and then even go on a pet killing spree in at least one neighborhood to help fan the rumor. This would serve to spread a general feeling of unease among the population and perhaps cause children to be afraid to sleep or do poorly in school because of worry.
• I would try to link up with an enviro terrorist network and give them the know how to attack power plants and urge them to do so.
• Constant false alarms caused by leaving suspicious packages or dummy missiles near or in airports, train stations, public buildings and near schools- wearing down emergency response personnel and causing fear and unease
• I would blow up Mosques (even assuming I was Muslim) to cause a backlash against what the media would portray as "Racial Hate" from the Right- this would serve to divert the resources of the FBI as they investigated false leads.
• Cut power and telephone lines in remote areas where there was less chance of being caught- also, attack water mains and sewer systems.
• Pull up sections of train track in remote areas. Dynamite craters into roads connecting communities in remote areas.

These things and many more I would've expected the terrorists to do. Just general disruption of our way of life. It would be very costly monetarily- for the victim and would be generally low risks for the organization carrying these things out. I mean you could do a lot of damage to a smaller community by simply setting the local factory or mill on fire- putting a major employer out of action. There's no way a nation's security apparutus could successfully defend every single target in addition to guarding nuke plants, airports, water supplies etc etc. Maybe they are just stupid and stuck in a Middle Ages type mentality. But if you successfully attack and disrupt an enemies supply/support lines- you will eventually defeat him and I suppose I'm glad they have this mentality.

[SierraWasp]

"This is just one more reason why more people should be getting ham radio licenses"

I have mine, but I won't provide my call sign as it's too easy to learn too much about me through this Federal License! I admit I haven't read this article yet, but I'm just as concerned today with the deliberate destabilization coming from within by our own elected politicians.

I watched the markets struggle valiantly today after watching PBS's Frontline program last week describe how Senators Dodd, Lieberman and Tauzin led the successful effort to override bill clinton's veto of letting auditors double as business consultants! Nothing being learned by the 1929 crash and now we have WORLDCOM!!!

This article is right, but our own liberally appointed judges for life are destabilizing our culture this very day! This nation and it's history is being thrown away, by it's own people! The militant few within are forcing us to waste our resources and compound the instability and are determined to bring it all down like the twin towers.

Here in CA they are doing it at the State and local levels as well! From within!!!

We better get a grip, here before it all shakes apart soon!

[Alas Babylon!]

Well, maybe the police can't be everywhere, especially in the rural areas. But America is a GREAT ARMED country. Anyone caught blowing up roads or messing with train tracks is likely to be shot on sight out here. Such terrorists would be better off caught by the PO-leese than the local Bubbas.

[Redcloak]

I remember that during the war in El Salvador, the rebels would dynamite electric transmission lines to black-out San Salvador and the other major cities. This was terribly demoralizing for the residents.

[lelio]

Instead of going for a direct attack, the terrorists could do something like find a hacker with a bunch of credit card numbers (like that one that supposedly had 300k of them from CD Universe) and publish them on the web. Pretty soon every krad d00d and his brother will try and use them, clogging up Visa's and MC's computers with bogus entries. Merchants will be leary of accepting any credit card. yada yada yada

[Grampa Dave]

Actually here on the West Coast, I think that under our left wing governors, legislators, city mayors and councils, our local government may be more dangerous to us than the feds.

There is a FR thread about a kali local school board requiring kids to become Muslims for 3 weeks after 9/11. One of our nice female freepers had a big rant against the federal government and schools. I sent her a reply suggesting that she read the thread again as the Feds had nothing to do with this. It was purely local level.

The local Enviral Nazi Nannies are pushing a local petition to supposedly preserve the trees, the birdies and our muddy Napa River. The reality is that they want to take over farms, vineyards and homeowner's land and turn them into Druid Sanctuaries.

These Nannies are not working for the UN Blue Helmeted Devils, the evil feds, or even Gray Davis. They are just local brown shirted Enviral Nazis trying to seize land that doesn't belong to them.

[Dog Gone]

I haven't read the full article yet, although I will shortly. My initial reaction is that al-Qaida isn't this sophisticated.

They certainly didn't include computer courses at their training camps in Afghanistan. That's not to say that we aren't vulnerable at these spots or that terrorists won't eventually develop the expertise to attack us using cyberwarfare.

But this enemy hasn't proven themselves to be terribly sophisticated yet. They are bold, and imaginative. They are cruel and evil. But brainiacs? I don't think so.