Reply-To: iwar@egroups.com
Subject: [iwar] Historical posting
Some recent stories about information warfare in the news... List members are encouraged to provide similar information as it comes available.
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Taiwan behind China in information warfare, defence minister warns
TAIPEI, May 5 (AFP) - Taiwan lags China in research into information warfare including the use of computer viruses to paralyse rival command systems, Taiwan's defence minister and newspapers said Wednesday.
"Efforts by the Chinese communists on computer viruses and magnetic pulses are shifting into high gear," minister Tang Fei told parliament.
"They are planning to develop a computer virus that would be able to paralyse the rival's command and telecommunications systems."
Tang said he expected Beijing to gain an overwhelming advantage over Taipei in electronic and information warfare by 2010.
The Liberty Times said China's People's Liberation Army had simulated computer virus offensives in exercises in Shenyang, Beijing and Nanjing over the past two years.
To counter the threat, Tang said a research unit had been formed and plans for information warfare had been drafted.
Tang's remarks came barely a week after the Taiwan-originated CIH Chernobyl virus damaged millions of computer programs worldwide. At least 7,600 computers in China were damaged by the virus and more than 100,000 were affected, Chinese state media reported Monday.
Local media said Chen Ing-hou, a student at Taiwan's Tatung Institute of Technology, had designed the virus in part to destroy computers in the mainland because he "was disgusted with communist China."
The China Times Express said last Friday that Chinese intelligence agents had been sent to Taiwan to seek information about the Chernobyl virus after it played havoc with some of the Chinese army's computers. There was no confirmation of the report.
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28 May 1999: Cyberwar? The U.S. Stands To Lose
According to Newsweek the CIA had plans to hack into Slobodan Milosevic's international bank accounts. Experts debate the feasibility of such attacks, but most agree that the US would be damaged if it chose to implement the plans. http://www.msnbc.com/news/274526.asp
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27 June 1999: Canadian "Hacktivists"
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canada's counterpart to the CIA, has declassified studies suggesting that many computer crackers attack because they have a political agenda, not just for fun. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ap/international/story.html?s=v/ap/19990627/wl/canada_briefs_6.html
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The price of independence: A Russian ISP defied government attempts to spy on Internet users andhad its license revoked and bank account frozen. http://www.techweb.com/news/story/TWB19990726S0003
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Chinese gov't responsible for cyber attacks
The Chinese Government has been blamed for cyber attacks on Web sites and Internet service providers supporting the Falun Gong movement, according to a report by the British Broadcasting Corp. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_412000/412296.stm
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First Public Demonstrations of Electromagnetic Disruption Device To Take Place at InfowarCon-99
How Terrorist HERF Gun and EMP Infrastructure Attacks Could Occur
Electromagnetic Weapons. Shoot. Blam. No dead bodies, just dead equipment. Computers that listlessly lie dormant. Networks idle. That is the non-lethal goal of the military planners: how to deactivate an adversaries military capability. The US allegedly used them in the Gulf War and in the Kosovo Crisis to shut down communications and power distribution.
But what about terrorists? What could they do to a sophisticated information age country which depends upon its infrastructure for survival? What would happen to a bank shot by a HERF Gun or struck by an EMP Bomb? What about dense communications networks in metropolitan areas? How would computer controlled transportation systems fare?
These are some of the questions to be addressed at the 10th InfowarCon Conference, Sept 7-10, 1999 in Washington, DC.
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30 July 1999 Chinese Group's Sites Under Cyber Attack
Sites devoted to a Chinese meditation group known as Falun Gong, which has been banned in China, have come under attack worldwide. The attacks appear to be the work of the Chinese government. In one instance, a server belonging to the FAA experienced an attack engineered to appear as though it came from Falun Gong. http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/21030.html http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/07/biztech/articles/31china-sect.html
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Pro-china hacker attacks Taiwan Govt. Web sites
A person claiming to be from mainland China hacked into several Taiwan government Internet sites to insert pro-China messages amid a heated row between the two sides over Taiwan's political status. http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/734224l.htm
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Taiwan cyber-hackers strike back at China
Taiwan may be dwarfed by its saber-rattling rival, mainland China, but it has shown it is not to be trifled with on at least one battleground -- cyberspace. http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/739031l.htm
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Cyberwar Threatens Indonesia
An international squad of computer hackers will wreak electronic mayhem on Indonesia if the country hampers voting in East Timor's independence referendum, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate warned Wednesday. http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/765352l.htm
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FC
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