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

From: Mandeep Singh Bajwa (bajwa@i91.net.in)
Date: 2001-08-15 09:51:59


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From: "Mandeep Singh Bajwa" <bajwa@i91.net.in>
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Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 17:51:59 +0100
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Subject: Re: [iwar] Interesting article on Cyberwar from SE Asia
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The ISI/groups sponsored by it also run Khalistani and other anti-India discussion sites on the Net notably on Yahoo Clubs. Pakistani activists join other Clubs run by Indians under assumed identities and post virulent anti-India propaganda. This is another aspect of the I-War campaign launched by Pakistan.

Mandeep Singh Bajwa
South Asia Editor
Orders of Battle Internet Magazine
http://orbat.com
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Fred Cohen 
  To: Information Warfare Mailing List 
  Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2001 1:18 PM
  Subject: [iwar] Interesting article on Cyberwar from SE Asia


  PROXY WAR IN CYBER SPACE

  By B. Raman 
  October 19, 2000

  The principal threats to networked information systems
  (IS) arise from paralysis or destruction, clandestine
  data distortion or transfer and defacements. Paralysis
  or destruction could be caused either by directly
  interfering with the IS or by indirectly disabling the
  source of power supply or the telecommunication
  system, without which networks cannot function. 

  The war in Iraq in 1991 saw the US and the UK
  allegedly paralyzing the networks in Baghdad by direct
  interference with the IS through microchip moles
  planted in the hardware/software supplied to Iraq
  during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s as well as by
  aerial strikes on the telecommunication system. During
  the Kosovo conflict last year, the power stations in
  Belgrade were paralyzed by the US through the use of
  the graphite bombs, thereby rendering the networks
  non-functional. 

  Effective use of the graphite bombs requires precise
  identification of the location of the power stations.
  With the Nuclear-Driven Radio Frequency Warheads
  (NDRF), reportedly under development by the US, such
  identification is not necessary. 

  >From a satellite, one can reportedly cause the
  explosion of the NDRF at a height of 50 to 100 KMs
  over a target area, creating an intense
  electro-magnetic field, which, it is claimed, would
  disrupt all command and control equipment, computer
  networks, power grids and telecommunication systems
  within a radius of about 1,000 kms, without any
  radiation fall-out or other collateral damage on the
  ground. 

  Data distortion is a new stealth weapon, the dangers
  of which have not been adequately understood by
  security experts, particularly in India. When data are
  destroyed or defaced, one immediately notices it and
  can manage the resulting crisis with the help of
  back-up systems and redundancies, consciously created
  at different nodal points, in the State as well as in
  the private sector, as in University networks for
  example, with the latter's co-operation. 


  Skilful and clandestine data distortion will often be
  noticed only after something has seriously gone wrong,
  such as a missile failing on the launch pad or going
  astray. Data transfer, which involves the theft of
  sensitive or classified data from an IS, often remains
  unnoticed unless the establishment concerned has a
  competent computer security staff. 

  Data defacement is the most widely-reported, but
  not-so-dangerous of the possible threats to IS from
  internal or external elements. One notices it
  immediately after it has occurred and can take the
  necessary corrective action. In fact, defacements help
  one, in a way, by making one aware of the weak points
  in one's IS. 

  Governments as well as private establishments avoid
  admitting penetration of their IS, lest public
  confidence in the dependability of their systems be
  shaken. As such, available statistics, tabulated by
  groups such as "Attrition", are often incomplete.
  Moreover, they document mostly instances of
  defacements. No reliable data are available of
  successful instances of IS penetration, which resulted
  in paralysis or destruction of systems or in data
  transfer or distortion. 

  But, these statistics do give an idea of the
  increasing magnitude of the threats to IS security due
  to the activities of hackers, working either
  independently or at the possible instance of
  intelligence agencies or alienated anti-government
  groups, including terrorists. Hackers are the
  mercenaries of the new millennium and the advent of
  the networked IS has enabled individuals to wage a war
  against a State, unnoticed and often undetected till
  the worst has happened. 

  Since August 1995, there have been 7,912 reported
  instances of penetration for defacements, of which
  5,149 or 65.08 per cent were in the US, and the
  remaining 2,763 or 34.92 per cent were in other
  countries. 

  Amongst the US establishments whose IS was reportedly
  penetrated were private companies (3,303),
  non-governmental organizations (556), network
  providers (435), universities and research
  laboratories (376), the Navy (58), the National
  Aeronautic and Space Administration (50), the Army
  (47), the Air Force (12), the Marines (5), other
  military establishments (34), the Department of
  Energy, which controls nuclear research laboratories
  (8), other Government departments (231) and banks
  (47). 

  The large number of penetrations in the US could be
  attributed partly to the large spread of networked IS
  in the US, as compared to other countries, and to the
  better system of reporting due to the regular
  sensitisation of public servants and business
  executives about the need for prompt reporting of
  penetrations and about the dangers of a cover-up. 

  The US is believed to have the best IS security
  infrastructure in the world in terms of laws, trained
  computer security experts, protection technologies
  etc. The fact that, despite this, there have been so
  many instances of reported and often undetected (until
  post-event) penetration would give an idea of the
  seriousness of the threats which countries such as
  India, which are at least 10 years behind the US in
  developing similar computer security consciousness and
  protection infrastructure, face from potential cyber
  invaders. 

  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.  

  =====
  Ravi V Prasad
  rvp@lycos.com, rvp@excite.com

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