[iwar] news


From: Fred Cohen
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Tue, 19 Dec 2000 19:42:44 -0800 (PST)


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Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 19:42:44 -0800 (PST)
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Hack the hackers 

Ravi Visvesvaraya Prasad 
http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/191200/detOPI01.asp

Since the Pokhran blasts, Pakistani hackers have been regularly attacking=
 websites of Indian organisations. The homepages of the Prime Minister=92s=
 Office, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the Ministry of Information=
 Technology and Videsh Sanchar Nigam were hacked into and defaced with=
 anti-India obscenities. 

Pakistani hacker groups like Death to India, Kill India and G-Force=
 Pakistan openly circulate instructions for attacking Indian computers. The=
 websites http://www.f**kindia.org, run by Nicholas Culshaw of Karachi, and=
 http://www.f**kindia.com, run by Arshad Qureshi of Long Beach, California,=
 contain malicious anti-Indian propaganda along with step-by-step=
 instructions for hacking into thousands of Indian websites. 

Surprisingly, the Indian Government has not attempted to disable these=
 websites. The Ministry of Information Technology has not even demanded an=
 explanation from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers=
 (ICANN) as to how domain names like http://www.f**kindia.org and=
 http://www.f**kindia.com could be registered at all. 

Indian defence and intelligence officials dismissed these activities as the=
 handiwork of Pakistani adolescents who did not have the backing of=
 Pakistani military and intelligence forces. However, the former additional=
 secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, B. Raman, cautioned that India should not=
 underestimate the havoc that can be wrought even by unorganised teenage=
 hackers. 

India=92s security establishment has also ignored information warfare=
 capabilities possessed by Islamic militant organisations. Rand Corporation=
 recently warned that Osama bin Laden=92s Egyptian followers can=
 immediately cripple the information infrastructures of Russia and India.=
 Clark Staten, Executive Director, Emergency Response and Research=
 Institute, Chicago, warned that Ikhwan-al-Muslimoon, Jamaat Islami,=
 Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Khilafah, Izz al-Din Al-Kassam and Nida=92ul Islam had=
 developed offensive capabilities in information warfare. 

More serious than Pakistan and Islamic militants is the threat posed by=
 China. According to Timothy Thomas of the US Army=92s Foreign Military=
 Studies Office in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, China=92s leaders reckon that=
 it can achieve hegemony in Asia only by integrating information warfare=
 into its geopolitical strategies. Thomas stated that China is quickly=
 integrating the latest information warfare techniques into its People=92s=
 War concept. This development has been ignored by the West but will have=
 far-reaching strategic and operational implications. 

In mid-1999, China established a special task force on information warfare=
 composed of senior politicians, military officers and academics, headed by=
 Xie Guang, Vice-Minister of the Commission of Science, Technology and=
 Industry for National Defence. This task force has prepared detailed plans=
 to cripple the civilian information infrastructures of Taiwan, the United=
 States, India, Japan and South Korea. Two members, Qi Jianguo and Dai=
 Qingmin, have formulated a comprehensive scheme. 

First, China will not attack military or political targets in these=
 countries but would target their financial, banking, electrical supply,=
 water, sewage and telecommunications networks. Second, Chinese companies=
 will establish business links with private companies in these countries.=
 After carrying on legitimate business for some time, they would insert=
 malicious computer codes and viruses over commercial e-mail services. 

Third, the viruses and malicious codes would be sent through computers in=
 universities in third countries so that they could not be traced back to=
 China. Fourth, the attacks would be launched when the political leadership=
 of the target countries is preoccupied with election campaigns. 

The People=92s Liberation Army (PLA) has conducted several field exercises=
 recently. An Informaticised People=92s Warfare Network Simulation Exercise=
 was conducted in Echeng district of Hubei province. Five hundred soldiers=
 simulated cyberattacks on the telecommunications, electricity, finance and=
 television sectors of Taiwan, India, Japan and South Korea. 

Ten functions were rehearsed in another exercise at Xian in Jinan Military=
 Region: planting information mines, conducting information reconnaissance,=
 changing network data, releasing information bombs, dumping garbage,=
 disseminating propaganda, applying information deception, releasing clone=
 information, organising info- defence and establishing network spy=
 stations. 

In Datong, 40 PLA specialists are preparing methods of seizing control of=
 networks of commercial internet service providers in Taiwan, India, Japan=
 and South Korea. They held demonstrations for the Beijing Region Military=
 Comm!, Central Military Commission and General Staff Directorate. In=
 October, Chief of General Staff Fu Quanyou presided over an exercise in=
 Lanzhou and Shenyang Military Regions which simulated electronic=
 confrontation with countries south and west of Gobi Desert. This focused=
 on electronic reconnaissance, counter-reconnaissance, electronic=
 interference and counter-interference. 

It tested the battle readiness of PLA=92s command automation systems,=
 command operations, situation maps, audio and graphics processes and=
 controls, and data encryption systems. Smaller exercises were carried out=
 in July in the Chengdu Military Region and in August in the Guangzhou=
 Military Region. 

The PLA has also enlisted support from universities. It established the=
 Communications Command Academy in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, in=
 collaboration with Hubei=92s engineering universities. The Navy=
 Engineering College, headed by Shao Zijun, also in Wuhan, is collaborating=
 on secret projects on information warfare with the Communications Command=
 Academy. 

The PLA established the Information Engineering University, headed by Major=
 General Zhou Rongting, in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province. It did=
 this by taking over and combining Henan=92s civilian Institute of=
 Information Engineering, Electronic Technology College and Survey and=
 Mapping College. This will specialise in remote image information=
 engineering, satellite-navigation and positioning engineering, and map=
 data banks of the regions from India to Indo-China. 

The PLA also established the Science and Engineering University, headed by=
 Major General Si Laiyi, by combining the civilian Institute of=
 Communications Engineering, the Institute of the Engineering Corps, the=
 Air Force=92s Meteorology Institute and the Research Institute of General=
 Staff Headquarters. Si Laiyi attracted over 400 civilian professors from=
 universities all over China. He also announced the establishment of a new=
 Institute of Computer and Command Automation and persuaded 60 experts of=
 Chinese origin settled in the West to return to work there. 

A fourth PLA institute is the National Defence Science and Technology=
 University in Changsha, under direct supervision of the Central Military=
 Commission, where the Yin He series of supercomputers has been developed. 

To counter cyberthreats from China, Pakistan and militant Islamic groups,=
 the Indian Government should immediately establish a national centre for=
 information systems security. It should tap the expertise of universities=
 and private software and internet companies. 

In addition to the Government and defence sectors, it should cater to the=
 banking sector, stock exchanges, telecom and internet networks, power and=
 water supplies, and transportation. It should be structured on the lines=
 of the American President=92s Commission on Critical Infrastructure=
 Protection which was created by Bill Clinton in 1996 and in which several=
 US corporations and universities are partners =97 principally IBM, Dell,=
 BellSouth, GTE and Carnegie Mellon University. 

India should also provide support to the numerous dissident Chinese hacker=
 groups formed to avenge the Tiananmen Square massacre. One is headed by=
 Lemon Li who operates from St Nazare, France. Another is headed by Michael=
 Ming and functions out of College Station, Texas. 

The most successful hackers have been Yellow Pages and Blondes. Blondes was=
 founded by Blondie Wong who operates from Toronto. Mao Zedong=92s men had=
 killed his parents. But since he was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and=
 Martin Luther King, Wong decided to use only peaceful means to overthrow=
 the Beijing regime. 

The Bangkok chapter of Blondes is headed by an Englishwoman, Tracey=
 Kinchen, who was earlier an MI5 agent. Her team disabled a PLA spy=
 satellite by sending spurious signals using cellular modems. Another=
 Englishwoman, Ashton Tyler Baines, heads the Kowloon chapter of Blondes.=
 Her team has launched over 72,000 cyberattacks against PLA. 

Baines claimed that Blondes and Yellow Pages have already placed over 40=
 computer operators as moles inside PLA=92s cyberspace divisions. =93We can=
 infiltrate, alter and even crash their communications satellites, space=
 program, supercomputers and networks. We are putting in backdoors and=
 writing bad code into their servers. We have already infected off-site=
 copies of their CD-ROMs,=94 said Baines. 

Could that provide the Indian Government with some ideas of how to counter=
 a Chinese infotech attack? 

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