[iwar] [fc:Strong.warning.on.cyber-terror.-.By.Bobby.Cuza,.Newsday,.2/18/02]

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Date: 2002-02-23 22:23:17


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Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 22:23:17 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Strong.warning.on.cyber-terror.-.By.Bobby.Cuza,.Newsday,.2/18/02]
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Strong warning on cyber-terror - By Bobby Cuza, Newsday, 2/18/02
<a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-0218cyberterror.story?coll=sfla%2Dbusiness%2Dheadlines">http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/local/sfl-0218cyberterror.story?coll=sfla%2Dbusiness%2Dheadlines>

Warning that we may be approaching "a digital Armageddon," Sen. Charles
Schumer said yesterday that the nation's computer infrastructure remains
extremely vulnerable to cyberattacks that could disrupt vital systems:
everything from the power grid to 911 response systems to air traffic
control.

At a Manhattan news conference to tout proposed legislation that would
assess such vulnerabilities, Schumer (D-N.Y.) outlined several dire
scenarios. The danger is most severe in New York, he said, because of
the city's central role in technology and finance.

"Our nuclear power plants, our phone lines, our water treatment plants,
our banks, our airports, train stations are all vulnerable to attack,"
Schumer said. "That doesn't just mean e-mail won't work for a few hours.
It means rolling blackouts. It means dead phone lines. It means
immediate shutdown of the subways and buses.

"To an individual, it could mean that your bank accounts could be wiped
out," he continued. "It could even mean that they shut down the
Northeast air traffic control system while thousands of planes are in
the air."

At a briefing in Washington last week, Richard Clarke, the president's
special adviser for cyberspace security, told lawmakers that al-Qaida
computer files recovered in Afghanistan indicated the terror network was
using the Internet to locate key utilities in the United States, Schumer
said.

Worse, according to Schumer, Clarke told a Senate subcommittee some key
systems, such as utilities and banks, may already have been penetrated.
In addition, Clarke discussed intelligence reports that indicate
cyberwarfare operations are now under way in nations such as Iran, Iraq
and North Korea, Schumer said.

Alan Paller, director of the System Administration, Networking and
Security Institute, appeared at yesterday's news conference and
described how until recently, security had been an afterthought when it
came to training computer administrators.

Schumer's legislation would establish a high-level task force to assess
the system's vulnerabilities and red-flag its most glaring weaknesses.

"You need to find the low-hanging fruit, the things that make it easy
for them to get in," Paller said.

Schumer said he hoped the task force would be a first step toward
creating a centralized authority with the power to effect real change.

"Somebody's got to go to the FERC [Federal Energy Regulatory Commission]
and say, 'You must have your utilities do this.' None of that's
happening now," he said. "Somebody's got to have the authority to do
this, and our legislation is the first step to get there."  Copyright ©
2002, Newsday, Inc.

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