NOW READ THIS
("Security Advisory")
Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA List Master
NRT-0323 US Counterintelligence Official Says International Cyber
Operations are Targeting the US:
About 140 foreign intelligence organizations are trying to hack into the computer
networks of the US Government and US companies, according to Dr. Joel Brenner, the
National Counterintelligence Executive, who was quoted in an online news article.
It is not accurate to blame only the Chinese government for recent penetrations of
government computer systems, he said. "They are coming from everywhere now. It is
a pervasive problem." Because it is easy for such operations to disguise their
origin, Brenner said, the best course of action is to tighten up one's own networks
rather than to place blame.
The nation's electronic systems are too easy to hack, and the number of world-class
hackers is "multiplying at bewildering speed," said Brenner on 19OCT at a symposium
on cyber security. That, he said, has transformed the nature of counterintelligence:
"If you can exfiltrate massive amounts of information electronically from the comfort
of your own office on another continent, why incure the expense and risk of running a
traditional espionage operation?"
Brenner warned that cyber operations could create chaos by manipulating information in
electronic systems that the government, military, and private industry rely on. "Our
water and sewer systems, electricity grids, financial markets, payroll systems, air and
ground traffic control systems ... are all electronically controlled, electronically
dependent, and subject to sophisticated attacks by both state-sponsored and freelance
terrorists," he said.
(www.cnn.com 19OCT07)