[iwar] [fc:Will.hackers.keep.the.cyberpeace?]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-11-25 21:20:26
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Will hackers keep the cyberpeace?

Reuters, ZD Net, 11/19/2001  http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2825353,00.html?chkpt=zdnn_nbs_hl

SAN FRANCISCO--Six days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and
Pentagon, a major European hacker group issued an unorthodox plea to the
rest of the computer underground for cyberpeace. 
"We face this power of destruction and feel helpless," a statement on
the Web site of the Germany-based Chaos Computer Club said. "However, we
believe in the power of communication, a power that has always prevailed
in the end and is a more positive force than hatred." 
The group was responding to calls for revenge by malicious hackers who
had defaced Middle Eastern Web sites after the Sept. 11 attacks. The
20-year-old Chaos Computer Club, which joined other seasoned hacker
groups in renouncing cyber-battles in 1999, urged restraint. 
Nonetheless, computer vandalism in the form of Web site defacements and
denial-of-service attacks, designed to temporarily shut down Web
servers, have continued against U.S. sites, along with a notable uptick
in Afghan and Pakistani targets. Some security experts fear malicious
hackers will steal sensitive data or do even worse damage. 
Recent incidents include one where "GForce Pakistan" claimed credit for
hacking into a server at the U.S. National Oceanic &amp; Atmospheric
Administration and threatened to leak sensitive information. 
In Europe, hacker group Yihat claimed that it had accessed Middle
Eastern bank accounts belonging to members of Al Qaeda, the organization
suspected as being behind the U.S. attacks. 
Overall, statistical evidence is hard to come by that computer vandalism
has fallen or risen since Sept. 11. But analysts note that a spike
following international crises is normal, such as occurred following the
U.S. spy plane collision with a Chinese jet-fighter and the bombing of
Kosovo. 
Hacktivism or publicity?

Incidents of "hacktivism"--digital protests with a political
message--have been around for decades, serving as the cyber equivalent
of campus sit-ins and sidewalk graffiti. They do minimal economic or
lasting technical damage to government agencies or companies. They are
more nuisance and embarrassment than anything else.

Most hacktivism has specific targets--such as when critics of global
capitalism attempt to shut down or hijack the Web sites of the World
Trade Organization or other international trade groups such as the GATT
site at http://www.gatt.org. 
Most of the recent computer hacks have been done by attention-seeking
young hackers, so-called "script kiddies" who--because they lack the
experience to develop the tools themselves--rely on pre-programmed
computer scripts developed by more veteran hackers to attack sites,
experts said. 
Some attacks on Pakistani, Afghan and Arab world targets reflect raw
U.S. patriotic emotions, but the majority of them are just using the
latest international conflict as an excuse to do mischief, observers
said. Patriotism is also apparent as a motivation for hacker attacks on
U.S. government sites from the Middle East or South Asia, such as the
GForce vandalism. 
"Most of the criminals perpetrating these acts have delusions of
grandeur and way too much spare time on their hands (not an uncommon
thing with unemployed teenagers living at home)," Oxblood Ruffin of the
U.S.-based hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow told Reuters via e-mail. 
"Some do it because they think they can help, some do it because they
want the press and attention," Jericho, a hacker with the U.S.-based
group Attrition.org, wrote in an e-mail. 
"In reality, if any hackers are working against the enemy, I doubt we'd
hear about it until it was done," he said of any support such hackers
might be lending to U.S. military efforts in Central Asia. 
No obvious targets?  Several experts suggested there were fewer reports
of cyber attacks after Sept. 11 because it's unclear who to retaliate
against and because the most likely candidates in Central Asia lack the
electronic infrastructure to target. 
Other than weapons, Afghanistan makes do with 19th century technologies
as battles are waged on horseback and most homes lack electricity and
plumbing. 
"The fact that we're not seeing a lot of sites in the Middle East
compromised is due more to the low Internet population density in
central Asia," said Chris Rouland, director of research at Internet
Security Systems in Atlanta. 
"There are certainly elements of the (computer) underground that would
like to kick some 'cyberass', but it's hard to do that when you don't
have a (defined) target," said Winn Schwartau, author and Florida-based
information warfare consultant. "I'm not seeing anything serious. What
are they going to do, a denial-of-service attack against Kabul?" 
However, this could change if a backlash arises against the United
States over the bombing of Afghanistan. 
This could occur as sympathy for the Sept. 11 attacks wanes, predicted
Michael Vatis, former director of the U.S. National Infrastructure
Protection Center who is now director of the Institute for Security
Technology Studies at Dartmouth. 
The severity of the suicide plane attacks on U.S. cities, the subsequent
anthrax mail scare, and the war in Afghanistan has many at the fringes
of the computer underworld wondering whether such events have shocked
the underground community to take heed of the real-world consequences of
their actions. 
"I've been thinking about that (ethical debate) ever since Sept. 11,
whether there is a moral sensibility," said Richard Thieme, a writer,
former priest, and father figure to many in the hacker community who
also has ties to U.S. intelligence agencies. 
"Where (hackers) put their energies can either further or impede the
efforts of our real enemies to do damage," he said.

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