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Governments ready to fight cyber-crime in new millennium
January 2, 2000
From Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In 1997, a Worcester, Massachusetts, teenager used his computer to knock out communications at an air traffic control tower -- for six hours. In March of 1999, a programmer unleashed the Melissa virus, disabling thousands of computers around the United States. And every day, the Pentagon is the target of as many as 100 hacking attempts. As a new century begins, cyber-crime, including electronic terrorism, looms as a new way for criminals to threaten global security. According to Richard Clark, the coordinator for security, infrastructure, protection and counter-terrorism at the National Security Council, our dependency on computers will make us increasingly vulnerable. "They (computers) run our electric power grid, out telecommunications network, they run our railroads, our banking system, and all of them are vulnerable, at some level, to some degree to information warfare, or cyber-terrorism," Clark said. "There really is a broad spectrum of people, groups and countries that engage in cyber-attacks as a general matter for different purposes, " said Michael Vatis, director of the National Infrastructure Protection Center at the FBI. 'It's a very serious threat'Terrorists, hostile nations, criminals, hackers -- they all present a wide variety of threats and create new pressure for intelligence, defense and law enforcement around the world. The FBI computer crime case load has doubled each of the last two years. In October, the FBI reported 800 pending cases.
"According to the National Security Administration, there are over a hundred countries that are working on techniques to penetrate our information infrastructure," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona. "Many of them are aimed at the Defense Department and high security areas in both the private sector and the government, so it's a very serious threat." The government is working to prepare for electronic assaults, much the way it prepares for other forms of terrorism. "Our mission is to try to help protect the nation's critical infrastructures," said Vatis. "Somebody sitting with a laptop computer and a modem connection on the other side of the world can attack those things if they don't have good security," said Vatis. Added Clark, "There are governments that are building units, military units and intelligence units, to engage in information warfare. They are developing capabilities, they are building the units, and in some cases they seem to be doing reconnaissance on our computer networks." Countries develop anti-hacker squadsCyber-criminals have a major advantage: They can use computer technology to inflict damage, while simultaneously reducing their risk of getting caught. "Terrorists still prefer car bombs, you know. A car bomb still has a lot impact than a cyber-attack," said Richard Power with the Computer Security Institute. "But there is always the possibility that somebody could make some kind of dramatic statement by bringing down some aspect of the infrastructure." Some nations have developed computer anti-hacking teams to block and investigate crimes in cyberspace. But officials say as technology rapidly advances, preventing cyber-crime and catching cyber-criminals will only become tougher. RELATED STORIES: Depth Specials - Hackers RELATED SITES: The Computer Security Institute
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