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Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 08:40:09 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: [iwar] news
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Feds Say Fidel Is Hacker Threat
by Declan McCullagh
2:00 a.m. Feb. 9, 2001 PST
WASHINGTON -- These must be jittery times for anyone in the military who
uses the Internet.
Not only do they have to guard against Love Bug worms and security holes in
Microsoft Outlook -- now they've got to worry about Fidel Castro hacking
into their computers.
Admiral Tom Wilson, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, says the
74-year-old communist dictator may be preparing a cyberattack against the
United States.
Wilson told the Senate Intelligence Committee during a public hearing
Wednesday that Castro's armed forces could initiate an "information
warfare or computer network attack" that could "disrupt our military."
The panel later went into closed session to discuss classified material.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked in response: "And you would say that there is
a real threat that they might go that route?"
Replied Wilson: "There's certainly the potential for them to employ those
kind of tactics against our modern and superior military."
He said that Cuba's conventional military might was lacking, but its
intelligence operations were substantial.
The partly classified hearing is an annual event -- and an important one:
It represents this year's World Threat Assessment discussion. That's a
chance for the intelligence committee to set its agenda for this session
of Congress and hear from senior intelligence officials about the latest
national security threats.
In addition to the aging president of Cuba, witnesses and senators both
cited encryption as another technology-related threat during a far-ranging
discussion that also encompassed nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the committee's hawkish chairman, said that
the classified hearing later in the day would "explore the challenges
posed by, among others, the proliferation of encryption technology, the
increasing sophistication of denial and deception techniques, the need to
modernize and to recapitalize the National Security Agency, and other
shortfalls in intelligence funding."
Shelby has been a vehement opponent of any proposal to remove encryption
export regulations. In 1998, he said "the effects on U.S. national
security must be the paramount concern when considering any proposed
change to encryption export policy."
He is currently the co-chair of the Congressional Privacy Caucus. Last
week, Shelby sent out a press release saying, "Personal privacy is one of
the most important issues that we must confront in the new world of the
information economy."
At the January 1998 World Threat Assessment hearing, the talk also turned
to encryption. "I don't want to tell some father that we've lost a child
because we couldn't break the telephone conversation or we couldn't get to
a storage disk or something like that," FBI deputy director Bob Bryant
told the panel at the time. "And that's all we're saying."
Also warning of the dangers of encryption products, which let users shield
communications from prying eyes, was CIA Director George Tenet, who has
frequently spoken out against the technology in the past.
Tenet testified that terrorists such as Osama bin Laden are now using the
Internet and encryption to cloak communications within their
organizations. "So, you know, you recruit people on Internet sites, and
you use encryption," Tenet said. "You move your operational planning and
judgments over Internet sites' use of encryption. You raise money."
His comments come as a series of newspaper articles have highlighted how
bin Laden allegedly uses encryption -- and a variant of the technology,
called steganography -- to evade U.S. efforts to monitor his organization.
Tenet said that bin Laden "and his global network of lieutenants and
associates remain the most immediate and serious threat" to America.
And what about Castro? It might seem odd to view a country best known for
starving livestock, Elian Gonzalez and acute toilet paper shortages as a
looming threat, but the Pentagon seems entirely serious.
The DIA's Wilson said: "Cuba is, Senator, not a strong conventional
military threat. But their ability to ploy asymmetric tactics against our
military superiority would be significant. They have strong intelligence
apparatus, good security and the potential to disrupt our military through
asymmetric tactics."
Asymmetric tactics is military-ese for terrorist tactics when your opponent
has a huge advantage in physical power.
Shortly after those comments, Shelby adjourned the hearing until the
afternoon, when it resumed behind closed doors.
This week's drumbeat of criticism about encryption and steganography from
within Washington's national security circles may hint at congressional
efforts to impose additional restrictions on the technologies. President
Clinton relaxed -- but did not remove -- rules governing the export or
Internet distribution of encryption products.
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