1On February 26th, 998, someone broke into the computer network of the Pentagon of the US Department of Defense and browsed some non-top secret information. The success of UN Secretary-General Annan's trip to Baghdad prevented the explosion of "desert thunder" in the United States, and a war against "hackers" has started in the United States.
On February 25th of the same year, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Hamley announced to the press that in the past two weeks, the Pentagon's military intelligence network was invaded by a computer "hacker" system. This "hacker" invasion was in a sensitive period, and this news immediately became the headline news of the major media in the United States the next day.
Hamley said that "hackers" visited 1 1 unclassified military networks, including four naval computer networks and seven air force computer networks, which had logistical, administrative and financial information. After browsing this information, the "hacker" inserted a program called "trap cover" in the network. After installing this program, they can freely enter and leave these networks without anyone knowing. The computer system of the Pentagon was attacked by hackers more than once, but this time it was different from usual. Hackers seem to be bravado, trying to compete by invading these systems. Hamley said that this is the most organized and systematic network intrusion discovered by the Pentagon so far, and it "sounded the alarm for us." The U.S. Department of Defense and the Federal Bureau of Investigation vowed not to stop until they dug up "hackers."
There is a small town called santa rosa in California, USA. There is an Internet access service company called Netdex in the town. It is very small, with only 3000 users. This is where the hackers show the fox's tail.
1998 65438+1In mid-October, Bill Zan, the owner and general manager of Netdex Company, found that the service operating system was changed by "hackers" and immediately reported it to the FBI and the Computer Emergency Team (CERT) of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
After several weeks of follow-up investigation, FBI agents and CERT network personnel found the whereabouts of the "hacker". They could have plugged the loopholes in the operating system, but instead of doing so, they decided to take a risk and leave the door open for a while. This opening is six weeks.
During these six weeks, more than 20 FBI agents from the east coast of the United States and San Francisco closely monitored the "footprints" left by intruders on the Internet for 24 hours. These footprints clearly point to the websites of American government, army, national library, laboratories and universities. At first, the FBI thought that these intruders might be potential terrorists.
After a period of investigation, the FBI found out the whereabouts of the hacker. On February 25th, the computer crime investigation team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrived in Cloverdale, a small town with only 5,500 people, with two search warrants and six cars.
At about 8: 30 in the evening, a group of people arrived at this small town surrounded by green hills. With the support of the local police, they immediately surrounded a bungalow. They rushed into the house and found a boy of fifteen or sixteen busy hacking into the unclassified computer network of the Pentagon!
During the search, the town police blocked a street south of the town center. The search of this bungalow lasted for two hours. Later, they searched another house, and the teenage boy was also suspected of being involved in invading the Pentagon's network system. Because the two boys were too young, the FBI did not arrest them, but confiscated their computers, software and printers.
Last year, the two boys took part in a computer class together. Their computer skills even surprised computer experts. Zan said, "We are actually fighting them online. We spy on them, and they know we're spying on them. They are trying to recover their software documents so fast that we don't have time to eliminate them. "
But the FBI's pursuit of "hackers" did not end there. There are indications that there is a "black hand" behind these young hackers.
Zan said that through analysis, he noticed several different ways of "hacking". The most interesting thing about this case is that the invasion technology is surprisingly superb, and there are a lot of laymen's mistakes. In other words, more advanced experts provide these children with tools to invade computer networks. He said, "hacker" is not the person who guesses your password on the keyboard. They write and use other people's computer programs. In addition, Zanes received a lot of spam. He said, "These people are methodical and orderly. I would be very surprised if this incident (hacking into the Pentagon network) was only done by a few children. There must be others, and these children are just being used. "
FBI agents are actively investigating, hoping to find further clues and find out the "black hand".
Less than a month later, on March 18, Israeli police arrested a supercomputer "hacker" who invaded the computer systems of the US Department of Defense and the Knesset.
The age of this Israeli supercomputer hacker is 18 years old, and his online user name is "analyst". Linda Mei Niuyin, an Israeli police spokeswoman, said that the police also arrested two other accomplices, aged 18.
After the "hacker" was arrested, the US Department of Justice issued a statement revealing that the "analyst" was really named Ehud Turner. US Attorney General Reynolds said that the arrest of this "analyst" was a warning to all "hackers" who tried to invade the US computer system. The United States attaches great importance to this kind of computer attack. In the past few weeks, the US Central Intelligence Agency investigated this supercomputer "hacker" and provided information to Israel, which finally helped Israel arrest this "analyst".
It is estimated that the "analyst" is probably the online tutor of two California teenagers recently arrested by the CIA. According to the Pentagon, the targets of these computer "hackers" are the unclassified personnel lists and payrolls of the US Department of Defense, the US Naval Military Center, NASA and some university computer systems. One of the two teenagers arrested in Sonoma, California, has accessed the computer systems of 200 American universities.
Because they share the same system resources, attacking non-confidential systems may also bring out confidential information, so the existence of these "hackers" led by "analysts" has greatly disturbed the US Department of Defense. John Hamley, US Deputy Secretary of Defense, said that this is the "most organized and systematic" computer intrusion discovered by the Pentagon so far.
Dan Jasper, an American computer expert, and an Internet service provider in Santarosa, California first discovered the existence of this kind of network "hacker"-"analyst". It was Jasper who helped the CIA catch two California "hackers" allegedly under the guidance of "analysts".
After their arrest, the "analyst" and his associates were detained at Beit Yam police station in the southern suburbs of Tel Aviv. The police confiscated their passports.
"Hacker"-"analyst" said in an interview with an online magazine before his arrest that it was not illegal for him to invade the computer system, and even "beneficial and harmless" to the target. The "analyst" said that he often helped him fix the vulnerabilities of the servers he attacked, and he hinted that "a malicious' hacker' did far better than this."
At this point, the pursuit of "hackers" who invaded the Pentagon during the Gulf War came to an end.
The emergence of "hackers" has shaken people's confidence in the security of network systems. "No matter how many locks you lock, someone will find a way to get in," said Allen Solomon of S&S International, which specializes in developing anti-virus methods. Newt gingrich, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, also pointed out at a meeting: "Cyberspace is a freely flowing field that everyone can enter-we'd better be prepared to deal with the inventions and creativity of our opponents in various fields, which we never dreamed of." It can be seen that in the future struggle in the information field, network "hackers" will be one of the most terrible and difficult opponents.
Where there is spear, there is shield. If it is difficult to deal with, we must find a way to deal with it. At present, the most commonly used method in the world is to install encryption software. This software is a program composed of 40 bits of information, which can encrypt text, image, video and audio. Convenient use and strong safety. But "Tao" is high, and "magic" is higher. Since August 1995, this cryptographic software has been cracked several times in succession, and even a new and safer new generation of software has been discovered by two graduate students who are interested in cryptography. At present, users of computer networks have put their concern about network security in the first place, and they are eager for computer software and hardware companies to develop more safe and reliable "keys" to make people trust in network security.
In 1990s, with the increasing number of cyber hacker attacks, the US military is actively preparing to establish an "active hacker" force, that is, the "first generation cyber warrior" similar to hackers, while strengthening the computer network protection capability and preventing foreign hackers from invading. These cyber warriors will use computers as weapons to paralyze the enemy, manipulate the enemy's media and destroy the enemy's financial resources.
In addition to the United States, other developed countries are also actively strengthening network security construction. 1In the summer of 1995, NATO took over the right of peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the United Nations peacekeeping forces, and the first task after entering Bosnia and Herzegovina was to install a huge communication network. This network played a great role in the air strikes against Bosnian Serbs, and many battle plans were transmitted through this network. However, with the increasing number of networked military network nodes, the problem of network security has become increasingly prominent. To this end, NATO countries participating in the war have stepped up the installation of data security measures such as "firewall" for this network system.
It can be predicted that how to use the computer network, a sharp double-edged sword, will be one of the important factors that will determine the outcome of future wars.