The Pentagon's Computer Security Problem

WASHINGTON, D.C.: As many as 250,000 attempts are made every year to infiltrate Pentagon computers, according to a government study released Wednesday. The GAO report said that hackers made more than 160,000 successful entries into military computer networks last year. It recommended that the Pentagon create a greater degree of computer file accountability, institute rigorous training in computer security and develop better capability for reacting to computer break-ins. GAO information management chief Jack Brock told a Senate subcomitte hearing of an infamous 1994 case where a16 year old British teenager broke into the computer of the Air Force command and control research facility in Rome, New York. He gained access to the system more than 150 times, hiding his trail through international phone systems in South America, Seattle and New York. The boy used his access to reach systems at NASA's space flight center, defense contractors around the nation and the South Korean atomic energy center. Senator Sam Nunn, ranking Democrat on the committee, said that Internet crime presents a whole new challenge for ensuring national security. "Is the bad actor a 16-year old, a foreign agent, an anarchist or a combination thereof?" he asked. "How do you ascertain the nature of a threat if you don't know the motive of your adversary?" Adding fuel to the threat of cyberspace infiltration is a report that some 120 governments have or are developing computer attack capabilities. Chris McKenna