RE: [iwar] Interesting article on Cyberwar from SE Asia

From: Mohammad Ozair Rasheed (ozair_rasheed@geocities.com)
Date: 2001-08-14 05:53:37

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From: "Mohammad Ozair Rasheed" <ozair_rasheed@geocities.com>
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Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 17:53:37 +0500
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Subject: RE: [iwar] Interesting article on Cyberwar from SE Asia
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Very interesting indeed and enlightening too. However, it is quite blown
out of proportion and possibly the article is itself a version of the
IWAR. And it was a good laugh too.

Regards,
Ozair

<snip>

In Asia, the largest number of penetrations for
defacements since 1995 has been from South Korea
(142), followed by Japan (63), China (59), Malaysia
(46), India (37), Singapore (20) and Pakistan (17).
The much smaller number in Pakistan as compared to
India does not necessarily mean that IS security there
is better than in India. It is more due to the fact of
a much larger spread of networks in India. The more
the networks, the greater the possibility of
penetration. 

Pakistan lags far behind India in Information
Technology (IT), but Gen. Pervez Musharraf, its
self-styled Chief Executive, has embarked on an
ambitious program for catching up with India.
Budgetary allocations have been increased considerably
to promote computer education and research and to
persuade Pakistani IT experts in the West to help
Pakistan in this regard. 

However, there is one domain in which Pakistan seems
to have taken a lead over India -- in mobilizing the
resources of overseas Pakistani and other Islamic IT
experts and hackers in its electronic Psychological
Warfare (Psywar) against India and in raising a
dedicated corps of hackers, who could be used to
identify weak points in the IS of Indian
establishments and use them appropriately. 

The potential of the World Wide Web (WWW) for Psywar
purposes was realised by the Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) long before the Indian intelligence
did. 

There are about 150 jehadi websites on the WWW today.
They provide the following services: 

Dissemination of information regarding jehad in
different countries. 
Instructions on how to become a Mujahideen, how to
prepare improvised explosive devices etc. 
Database on where one could purchase arms and
ammunition and their prices. 
A bibliography of 266 articles on urban guerilla
warfare and low-intensity conflicts. 
Anti-State propaganda. 
About one-third of these web sites relate to the
so-called jehad in Kashmir and are run by
organizations such as the JKLF, the
Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, the Lashkar-e-Toiba etc. 

Groups such as Attrition periodically publish a list
of the 10 most active hacker groups of the world. Two
groups of Pakistani hackers, calling themselves "GforcePakistan" and
"Pakistanhc" figure in this list. The first one is estimated to have
caused 110 defacements all over the world since 1995 and the second 99
defacements. Their targets include not only India, but also the US to
protest against the US attitude on Kashmir. 

A third group calling itself the Muslim Online
Syndicate (MOS) surfaced in March last, with an
unverified claim of having defaced almost 600 Web
sites in India and taken control of several Indian
government and private computer systems, in protest
against alleged Indian atrocities in Kashmir. 

D. Ian Hopper, the CNN's Interactive Technology
Editor, reported as follows: "Unlike the majority of
Web vandals, the MOS members say they secretly take
control of a server, then deface the site only when
they "have no more use" for the data or the server
itself." 

He quoted one of the members of the group as saying as
follows: "The servers we control range from harmless
mail and Web services to 'heavyduty" government
servers. The data is only being archived for later use
if deemed necessary." 

It was suspected that the MOS managed to have access
to Indian Websites and IS through Alabanza, a Pakistani-controlled
American Internet Service Provider, which had reportedly a colloboration
agreement with a well-known Indian dot.com company, without the latter
being aware of its Pakistani connection. 

There are many other Pakistani and Islamic hacker
groups which have been active, with some of them
giving online tutorials on how to use malicious
software and hack and even providing malicious
software, which can be downloaded and sent to someone
whose computer one wants to damage. 

These groups describe the growing number of hackers in
the Pakistani Diaspora abroad as "Pakistan's greatest
natural resource". The fact that they are able to
indulge in such blatantly illegal activities online
despite stringent Western laws against cyber crime and vandalism should
be a matter of concern to Indian national security managers. 

Cyber Space Security Management has already become an
important component of National Security Management, Military-related
Scientific Security Management and Intelligence Management all over the
world. Future intrusions threatening our national security may not
necessarily come from across the land frontier, or in air space or
across maritime waters only, but could also come in cyber space.
Intelligence operations and covert actions will be increasingly cyber
based. 

It is important that our intelligence agencies gear
themselves up to this possibility from now onwards. It
is, therefore, advisable to put in place a National
Cyber Space Security Management policy to define the
tasks that need attention, specify the
responsibilities of the individual agencies and
provide for an integrated approach and architecture. - Asiafeatures.com 

  The writer is Additional Secretary (Retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt.
of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,
Chennai. E-mail: corde@vsnl.com.  

<snip>

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