http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?id=52575&mador=1&datee=7/30/99
Ha'aretz, July 30, 1999
Hackers using Israeli 'net site to strike at Pentagon
By Nitzan Horowitz, Ha'aretz Correspondent
WASHINGTON - An Israeli Internet site is being used
by international computer hackers as a base for
electronic attacks on U.S. government and military
computer systems, according to Pentagon officials
who were quoted in a Washington Times report
yesterday.
The paper said that the National Security Agency
detected the hackers and warned government security
officials last week about the electronic
penetration attempts.
The warning was issued by the National Security
Incident Response Center, an interagency group set
up by the NSA to track computer attacks, the
Washington Times explained. The attacks were traced
to an Internet protocol (IP) address in Israel,
said officials who spoke on the condition of
anonymity. (An IP address is a number that
identifies a computer connected to the Internet.)
Many probes of government and military computers
were detected from the Israeli site, the agency
noted, adding that the site is a popular "jump
point" for hackers in Israel and other countries.
Hackers have also used the site to store
hacker-related materials, such as software and
database information, the Washington paper
reported.
Such materials can include special
password-breaking programs that are used to find
entry points into Internet sites.
"There are some intrusions going on as we speak,"
Melissa Bohen, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon's
Joint Task Force-Computer Network Defenses, told
the paper. She said the Pentagon detects 60 to 80
attempted computer break-ins daily, though these
target mainly unclassified information. Secret data
is stored separately and is not easily penetrable.
Bohen said that the FBI is still investigating
computer intrusions that occurred earlier this
year, some of which were traced to an Israeli
hacker.
According to the Washington Times, the real danger
to U.S. national security is the threat posed by
foreign intelligence services or governments that
could launch electronic warfare against the United
States.
The Clinton administration plans to set up a major
government-wide security network to protect its
computers from hackers, thieves, terrorists and
hostile intelligence services.
According to the Associated Press, the plan calls
for establishing a network of electronic barriers,
monitors and analyzers to detect and check
suspicious activity on government computer
networks.
About 500 computer intrusion devices could already
be functioning by next year, and the complete
system will be in place by 2003.
According to Frank Cillufo, a computer-security
specialist with the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, most hackers engage in
"Internet graffiti" by entering and defacing
government Internet sites.
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