Re: [iwar] [fc:Bennett.Predicts.Cyber.Terrorism]

From: e.r. (fastflyer28@yahoo.com)
Date: 2002-06-12 20:31:45


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Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 20:31:45 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Re: [iwar] [fc:Bennett.Predicts.Cyber.Terrorism]
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 Man! Everyone else is predicting some sort of terrorism, why not jump on the bandwangon when an issue is HOT.  It is beyond irresponsible for all parties involved to due so, but that never stopped a politician.  I think it is about time to let the public know far less.  All the roor over terrorism has simply made any terrorist, or wanna be, even more powerful by just saying BOO!
  Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> wrote: Bennett Predicts Cyber Terrorism 
BY DAWN HOUSE, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 6/10/02 http://www.sltrib.com/2002/jun/06102002/utah/744211.htm

The next terrorist attack on the United States could send water from
dams crashing through population centers, trap millions of commuters in
paralyzed transportation systems, send airplanes on collision courses or
stall food shipments miles away from starving cities -- all from the
push of a button on a cheap personal computer.  
While Senate and House intelligence committees are investigating how the
FBI and CIA overlooked clues before Sept. 11, Sen. Bob Bennett has
released a report prodding government and private industry to gear up
for the next wave of terrorism on U.S. soil. Future attacks will not be
conventional warfare, the Utah Republican senator insists. It will be an
all-out cyber war.  
This week, Bennett praised Bush's announcement of a new Cabinet-level
Department of Homeland Security, but he added that plans to coordinate
anti-terrorism efforts must include protections for private industry
sharing information with the government. Bennett has sent Homeland
Security boss Tom Ridge the report, Security in the Information Age,
which discusses the critical link between the nation's private computer
networks and national security.  
"The primary message of [the] report is that we must think differently
about national security in the new networked world," Bennett said. "As
some would say, we're not in Kansas anymore."  
The 130-page study, released in late May, contains warnings from 12
security experts who fear terrorists could sidestep the U.S. military's
secure computer network and hack their way through any one of the
thousands of interconnected "back doors'' in private industry to cripple
transportation, financial, water and power systems.  
The report pointed to three incidents: A prankster from Sweden disabled
portions of a 911 emergency system in southern Florida; a Massachusetts
teen-ager shut off communications to an aviation control tower; and a
computer crimes specialist infiltrated the computer system that controls
the floodgates of an Arizona dam.  
"Where security once meant digging a moat around the castle, now it must
involve whole industries and systems," wrote Bennett in the report that
was prepared at his request by the Joint Economic Committee that was
prepared at his request. "Telecommunications, energy, banking and
finance, transportation, water, emergency services and essential
government services are now connected to each other in one way or
another in this 'wired' age."  
Bennett points to a simple telephone call to show the interdependence --
and vulnerability -- that comes with the nation's dependence on
computers.  
"When the Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon places a telephone call,
it is likely that a commercial telecommunications company will be
providing the service," he said. "It has been estimated that over 95
percent of defense communications rely on the public phone system."  
Bennett, named by Congressional Quarterly as a new leader from last
year's 107th "War" Congress, has expanded his warnings from the Y2K
computer meltdown to calling for a national cyber terrorist warning
system.  
"Currently, the media is the default measure to determine if warnings
are useful,'' he said. "When we read that people took action and the
problem was avoided, there is usually a follow-up story that claims that
the threat was hyped and the warning was too strong."  
"We saw this with regard to Y2K," said Bennett. "If people fail to take
action, we will likely read the warning wasn't strong enough."  
Although private industry has "primary responsibility for protecting
their information assets, current efforts are uneven and spotty," wrote
John Tritak, director of the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office,
and Kenneth Juster of the U.S. Export Administration. "In the aggregate,
these efforts may not provide a level of security capable of
safeguarding against systemic failures on a regional or national
level."  
Within days of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Bennett introduced a bill
to encourage companies to share security information with the government
by guaranteeing confidentiality.  
Months later, however, he agreed to delay his "Critical Infrastructure
Information Act" until sometime this year, after a coalition led by
environmentalists charged the bill would have devastating, if
unintended, effects on public information. Companies could, for example,
avoid disclosing when they released toxic chemicals into the
environment.  
Bennett insists his bill would allow firms to skirt anti-trust laws only
to share seemingly unrelated, perhaps embarrassing, information with the
government. Experts, in turn, would assess the data on such incidents as
vandalism, thefts or computer hacking to determine terrorist threats.  
The Freedom of Information Act "has been a significant obstacle to
public-private information sharing to date because companies run the
risk of having sensitive or proprietary data compromised if it is
revealed to the public, and fear damage to shareholder confidence if
vulnerabilities are publicly acknowledged," wrote former naval
cryptologist and TRW Corp. official William Gravell. Bennett's bill
shows these "obstacles are now being recognized and addressed."  
Ex-CIA agent John MacGaffin, whose former agency is being criticized for
not sharing information with the FBI before Sept. 11, said national
security is "both the target for the 'bad guys' and -- if we can bring
an appropriate new focus to the problem -- the strength of our
defense."

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