NEWS: US fears nuclear cyber terror attacks

Al-Qaeda computers seized by US forces in Afghanistan

Hackers affiliated to Al-Qaeda may be planning cyber attacks on nuclear power plants, dams or other critical structures.

According to a report in the The Washington Post, an FBI investigation of suspicious surveillance of key computers discovered "multiple casings of sites" nationwide.

Quoting a Defense Department summary of the probe, the newspaper said hackers routed through telecommunications switches in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Pakistan. They did this to study emergency telephone systems, electrical generation and transmission, water storage and distribution, nuclear power plants and gas facilities.

Some of the mysterious computer probes targeted a class of digital devices that allow remote control of such things as fire dispatch services and pipelines.

Information about those devices and hacking them were found on Al-Qaeda computers seized by US forces in Afghanistan.

The computer logs found show that Al-Qaeda operators spent time on sites that offer software and programming instructions for the digital switches running power, water, transport and communications grids.

The newspaper also said that some Al-Qaeda prisoners have told their US interrogators about intentions, in general terms, to use those tools.

Source: http://www.vnunet.com/News/1133033

Just finished reading this :

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2002Jun26.html

That's kind of a follow-up on your article (is that how you say it?? i'm not english so i have trouble speaking my mind sometimes :( )

hmm this is like the movie come to life huh? lol
i guess our cyber cops are on their toes now... hmm and a water dam can be shut down with a symple hack.. it happened once here in Australia in the neighboring Melbourne.. not to mention the Air Traffic Controll that was accidentally hacked by a teen who thought it was just a local telephone company..

This is the new wave of war I guess. Computers now mimicing weapons of mass destruction. Very interesting read.

I don't think that this is a problem solely in the USA. Yes, knowledge is out there. Yes, any knowledge has the potential of abuse if that is what someone wants to do. If one group targets another, what is to say that yet another won't be targeted. I know little of international politics, but this does seem to be an issue for everyone.

hmm seems to me like the US will have their hands full now

I blame it on people cutting corners in order to make administering large systems easier. Ideally they should know that it is NOT safe to be able to go to access.electrical.us/control/disablegrid?id=35652 :)

To reiterate my little security philosophy... make it physically impossible to modify the working of the system remotely. Monitor? Sure. But when it comes to major risk areas, don't invite problems...

Well, I guess it depends what part of what kind of system you consider.

Reminds of the movie "Sneakers," in a way. Mainly because of the quote near the end when he's referring to the fact the wars won't be fought with "guns," so to speak, it's all about the information, and technology. Which I believe to be totally true. The interesting thing to consider is, if we're at this point right now, and the way technology is exponentially advancing, what will things be like in 5,15, 20 years? Personally, I think we're going to come to a "pinnacle" 'make or break' situation in the not do distant future. As far as the U.S. is concerned, really. Anyways..just thought I'd spit out my .02

Later..

I realy dont believe that any one is that stupid to do that. Just because the US has hardly any secuirity at all when it comes to computing doesnt mean that some one whould or could do this. I know that there was already some People that where trying to hack the US to get control of the water sources and such in the US but of coures they couldent get through the US firewall. So i am very sure that it would be a rare event for any one to get in.

FaUlTy writing...

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People that where trying to hack the US to get control of the water sources and such in the US but of coures they couldent get through the US firewall. So i am very sure that it would be a rare event for any one to get in.

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You think there's a really big firewall all around the US or something? That's not how it works. Each individual company/organization has its own firewall and is responsible for its own security. And to be frank, a lot of the organizations' security sucks.

it all really depends on the administrators.. and the engineers on how they set up their security settings..

This is just propaganda. Nobody keeps power controls running on systems accessible through the internet. If anything, some websites used to display information on floor maps, alarms and security used throughout different places. Anyone can see how that became a potential threat to security after 9/11 and it was taken off the internet. Everything with IT gets blown out of proportion. Just like the Y2k bug. Has everyone forgotten that?

Dont be so sure about that LadyBug...If they have 'net access at the power station, I can guarantee you that somewhere there is a poorly protected link between the control systems network and the employee network.

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Originally posted here by Terr
I blame it on people cutting corners in order to make administering large systems easier. Ideally they should know that it is NOT safe to be able to go to access.electrical.us/control/disablegrid?id=35652 :)

To reiterate my little security philosophy... make it physically impossible to modify the working of the system remotely. Monitor? Sure. But when it comes to major risk areas, don't invite problems...

Well, I guess it depends what part of what kind of system you consider.

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i have to agree with terr...why the hell would u allow a nuclear facility to be able ot blow up or over heat or w/e remotely!...just plain stupid make them try to infiltrate the plants so that they feel m-16's :)

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why the hell would u allow a nuclear facility to be able ot blow up or over heat or w/e remotely!

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well no one does.. but like any bug.. it comes unexpected.. like XP.. those UPnP and etc etc new functions were meant to make user's life a lil more easier.. it wasnt designed so that hackers can hack to the user's system..

I post in another thread my responce for this subject "Don't want to get bashed for posting the answer in two threads on one subject again"

I also said in another thread: The only thing we would really have to worry about is if someone decided to take and attack us at home while we are over seas, but then again. Not many have the ability to do so.

btw: I'm talking about a full out Iraq attack are something along those lines. See we have so may allies that we can get away with missions like that. Iraq wouldn't be able to fly 30 fighter jets over, and land on out out skirts for refuel & ammo.

I had read the Washington Post story. Interestingly, some of the other security gurus were warning about his for some time - a few months?

It's a shame for world-wide users of the Internet that the trend seems to be more and more to private/secure networks. Now, I realize that this is necessary for national defense. I guess since I'm old, I remember the early fun days of the Internet when everyone shared just about everything and it was a community. I guess it will never be the same! I read that the US DOD has/will implement its own highly secured "Internet." I have no idea what that means, but that will probably be the rule. The big money will flee the public places, and go to private "Internets." Remember the early CompuServe in the 80's? You had to pay, but you got good stuff and it was "safe."

I think the trend will be back to private networks that operate like the old BBS's with SYSOPS tightly controling users and content. We will be paying because script kiddies, black hats, terrorists, and spammers will be clogging the public places with so much junk that people with the money will go elsewhere for a clean experience with safe shopping, etc.

So the people that these cyber-terrorists (or other liberation punks) claim to represent will suffer because the poor people will have a second class/inferior Internet system. And then those of us in the US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc. will be dumped on for our pay systems that the rest of the world can't afford.

its bad when so many hackers in the U.S. want to root Al Qadis boxes but can't because you don't know if your doing more harm then good to the U.S. intelligence!
We should nuke their sandbox and turn it into a parking lot for McDonalds....