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Subject:    [ISN] The Industry Standard: Feds Take Steps Against Threat of Cyber Terrorism
From:       mea culpa <jericho () dimensional ! com>
Date:       1998-09-25 9:09:45
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http://www.thestandard.net/articles/display/0,1449,1788,00.html?home.mf


Feds Take Steps Against Threat of Cyber Terrorism

By Elizabeth Wasserman               
                                     
The Soviet Union once aimed their missiles at U.S. nuclear silos. When the
Cold War ended, terrorists struck at emblematic institutions such as
airlines, foreign embassies and the World Trade Center. Now, as the world
enters the Information Age, the nation's enemies may go after cyber
targets. 

That's why the federal government is in the first stages of assessing the
nation's telecommunications and information vulnerabilities, anticipating
that foes may look to strike Internet "network access points" instead of
submarines and missile silos. 
                                     
Government officials and members of the private sector meet for the first
time this Friday to start locating vulnerability points to potential cyber
or physical attacks. The study, which may take years to complete, aims to
recommend ways to eliminate those weak spots, create a system for
identifying and preventing attacks, and prepare for attacks through
training and education. 
                                     
This study stems from a presidential directive, signed in May, that
created a Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office. The office will
oversee the development of the first national plan to protect the services
that the country depends on daily. But so many of those services –
transportation, banking and finance, electric power, emergency services
and so on – are becoming increasingly reliant on telecommunications and
information components. 
                                     
"It's kind of like a farmer who goes out after the winter storm looking to
see where the fences are down and where the herd can get out," said Larry
Irving, head of the U.S.  Commerce Department's National
Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is overseeing the
telecom study. "It is kind of like surveying the situation. This is a new
frontier for us. There's a new infrastructure out there. And we're much
more dependent on this infrastructure than we've ever been or ever
expected to be." 

But Irving acknowledges that he needs the cooperation of private industry
in order to conduct a thorough analysis of the infrastructure of a variety
of industries: telephone, information technology, cable, satellite,
paging, wireless, and even the broadcasting industry, which runs the
emergency broadcast system. 
                                     
While the meeting (Friday at 2 p.m.  in Room 4830 of the Commerce
Department Building in Washington, D.C.) will be open to the public, the
results of the government study will not. In fact, in order to win the
private sector's cooperation, government officials pledge that they won't
keep information on file or divulge it to those who might exploit it. 
                                     
"One of the things have to do is identify and remedy the situation," 
Irving said. "On the other hand, we want to make sure we're not putting
information out there that could be used by terrorists or competitors. 
The last thing we want to do is create that road map." 
                                     
The high-tech and telecommunications industries have recently been at odds
with government on such issues as the export of encryption technology, and
laws requiring telephone carriers to modify their equipment so law
enforcement can carry out wiretaps over digital switches. But Irving said
he is trying to foster the spirit of cooperation with industry in a
comparable way to the work being done to remedy the year 2000 computer
problem. 
                                     
And the private sector may not have much choice. U.S. policy-makers in the
White House, on Capitol Hill and in national security roles say the threat
of information weapons – coming not only from terrorist operatives but
also from foreign governments – is a very real potential danger. The
targeting of infrastructure facilities through the use of widely available
cracking techniques could disable such network-connected services as
electric power, banking and telephone. The vulnerability of both
government systems and those in private industry has been underscored by
the slew of attacks this year on everything from Pentagon computers to The
New York Times' Web site. 

As the telecommunications structure is changing rapidly, Irving
acknowledges that his agency's study will be a snapshot in time. But it
will alert both government and private industry to the need for building
protections into information and telecommunications systems. "We built an
entire system of sidewalks with no curb carve-outs," he said. "If you're
building the protections in as you go along, it's much easier." 


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