[iwar] [fc:Expert.predicts.terrorism-related.cyberattacks]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-09-27 15:29:59


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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Expert.predicts.terrorism-related.cyberattacks]
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Expert predicts terrorism-related cyberattacks 
By Maureen Sirhal, National Journal's Technology Daily, 9/27/2001
<a href="http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0901/092601td1.htm">http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0901/092601td1.htm>

The threat of a cyber attack on the Internet and on critical
infrastructures such as the electricity or transportation sectors that
depend on the Internet has heightened following this month's terrorist
attacks on the United States, a security expert acknowledged Wednesday. 
Michael Vatis, director of the Institute for Security Technology Studies
at Dartmouth College, led a team that conducted a threat assessment
after the Sept.  11 attacks.  They analyzed several political conflicts
within the last two years, including the tensions raised after the
collision of a Chinese military jet and a U.S military spy plane,
ongoing violence between Israel and Palestine, and the recent war in
Kosovo. 

"We concluded that cyberattacks immediately follow physical attacks
within the circumstances of the political conflicts," Vatis, a former
chief of the federal government's National Infrastructure Protection
Center (NIPC), told the House Government Reform Subcommittee on
Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental
Relations.  He said "politically motivated cyberattacks are increasing
in volume, sophistication and coordination."

Vatis said the likely culprits for such attacks would include known
terrorists such as Osama bin Laden and his associates, who are the chief
targets in the Bush administration's war on terrorism.  But countries
cited for harboring terrorists, such as Iraq or Libya, also could
instigate an assault, as could "terrorist sympathizers" and "anti-U.S. 
hackers."

Vatis and Richard Pethia, director of the CERT Coordination Center at
Carnegie Mellon University, said the Internet's servers and routing
systems are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks.  The weaknesses are
well known, but a lack of resources and prioritization on the part of
government agencies and private businesses are major hurdles, Vatis
said. 

Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of
America, disputed the notion that a cyberattack would cripple the
Internet.  "Nothing is totally invulnerable, but I don't want people to
get the idea that the Internet is about to be brought down," he said. 
The Internet was a vital communication channel for people on Sept.  11
because of disrupted telephone services, he noted.  Panelists at the
hearing--who included current NIPC Director Ronald Dick, Joel Willemssen
of the General Accounting Office and Mark Seetin, vice president of the
New York Mercantile Exchange--agreed with the suggestion of subcommittee
Chairman Stephen Horn, R-Calif., that the newly created White House
Office of Homeland Security, rather than an overworked White House
Office of Management and Budget, should manage cybersecurity issues. 

Panelists also pressed for a government-led research and development
effort to create a long-term defense against potential attacks.  A
program to develop better research also could bolster training efforts
to satisfy a critical shortage of technology security specialists,
experts said. 


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