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U.S. Military's Hackers
definate writes "Wired is running a story on the Joint Functional Component Command for Network Warfare, or JFCCNW. A multimillion dollar military task force used to attack the electronic infrastructure of their opponents."
From the article:
"JFCCNW"??? That's a terrible acronym! That's the worst thing I've heard since PCMCIA!
How about something a bit more catchy, like the League of Enduring Electronic Technicians? Or perhaps the Paramilitary Worldwide Network of Electronic Defenders?
Let's help out our country...please post your suggestions for acronyms below.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
an army of one's and zero's
_+_+__+_+_+_+_+_+_+++
when i moo u moo - just like that
the article refers to the JFCCNW as being the "... most formibidable hacker posse. Ever."
... so maybe the editors need to take anothNO CARRIER
looks like www.jfccnw.mil is offline
vodka, straight up, thank you!
Dear Habib,
My name is Akmar and I have just inherited $3 million, but it is stuck in a US bank account....
hack a day
Don't tell me - they are going to remotely deploy WinXP Service Pack 2 on the enemy's network?
Masterful...
b3 4ll j00 c4N B3!
J01n t3h 4RmY! T1s 133t!
"No problem. I have the capacity to do infinite work so long as you don't mind that my quality approaches zero."-Dilbert
Okay, guys, here's a quick quiz: of the following possible combatants, which one has the most to lose in the event of an enemy hacker penetrating its computer security?
a) al-Qaeda
Are you kidding? The Bush administration's attention to details like computer security is EXACTLY why we caught Bin Laden!
Oh, wait.
How about Worldwide Online Operations Team ?
He said they may also be able to set loose a worm to take down command-and-control systems so the enemy is unable to communicate and direct ground forces, or fire surface-to-air missiles, for example.
These things are connected to the internet?
Freedom's Special Computer Knights
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. -Martin Luther
Couldn't we just /. them into submission?
From TFA: Rita Katz, an expert on Islamic terror sites and director of the Washington, D.C.-based Search for International Terrorist Entities, believes a website that posts an execution should be taken out immediately. No matter what the implications are for free speech or other nation's laws, she said. (emphasis mine)
Coming soon - non-Evangelical-Republican == Terrorist.
You're looking for quotes? See my journal.
Script Kiddies in Uniform
I don't think you'd want these people using all of their resources to attack your network. Script kiddies, they're not.
And a good way to spend millions of taxpayer money.
Yup, because the bad guys are doing exactly the same thing. And you'll never have a better bunch of people to work on countering that sort of stuff than the people who have done a stint entirely focused on causing damage elsewhere. Who would you want taking a new job working on infrastructure protection: the kid right out of IT school, or the guy who's been working without any distraction or budget tightwaddedness who's just spent the last two years thinking up every way he can to crack and damage networks, content, databases, and more?
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Homeland Agency for the eXecution and eXtermination of Our Rivals?
Thinkin' Lincoln - a web comic of presidential proportions
Well considering the levels of encryption that al-Qaeda and North Korea use and the number of laptops that are found in many terrorist hiding areas or even in the place where the terrorists responsible for 9/11 resided, I wouldn't scoff at the value of having access to their networks. It is a known fact that terrorists use PGP encryption and it's creator has written a few times about his feelings on this and distributing it for free. In the end he has always, thankfully, decided that freedom for our privacy outweighs any evil intentions that others may have. (That is an extremely rough paraphrase)
Regards,
Steve
... is getting enough of the "great" hackers the proper security clearances and compartmented accesses. You must be a US citizen, pass an SSBI Single Scope Background Investigation, FBI/DIA ivestigators contact scads of people you havent talked to in years as well as your current associates and their associates and the associates of those people as well - they go 3 nodes or more out from you. Add to that a Counter Intelligence polygraph - those are sometimes the biggest hurdles. If you try for NSA credentials, you get the joy of a Lifestyle Polygraph (the worst 6+ hours of your life, trust me on that). On top of that, getting people to move to Nebraska for some duty at Stratcom in Omaha is not all that easy a sell.
Fortunately not al the duty stations are in Nebraska, and not every hacker (used in the best sense of the word) fits the stereotypes. Its not like the movies.
There is one other source they forgot:
Contractors. Look at the big DoD contract companies, and look at the IT openings they have. Northrop Grumman (includes the old TRW people), Raytheon (includes the old Hughes people), Lockheed-Martin, Ball Aerospace (Satellite/comms guys), Titan, and a pile of smaller lesser known companies. Look at what they are hiring for. These are the only relatively secure IT jobs left in the US that are not under threat of being outsourced overseas.
Plenty of work if you can qualify for the security aspects and dont mind being reinvestigated and strapped to a polygraph every few years, on top of other voluntary restrictions you put on your freedoms in exchange for the security clearance (i.e. give up the recreational/illegal drugs, give up drinking to excess, give up gambling, and give up many of the vices the fringe of hackerdom has).
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo! http://goo.gl/J9bkO
that brought down al-jazeera.net when the US invaded Iraq? Remember the 2 week long denial of service attack and subsequent attacks after beheadings and what not?
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030327/152/dwem2.html/
Top 10 Reasons To Procrastinate
10.
"The Internet." The phone system is also a network, as is the power grid (parts of which are phone accessible, but not internet accessible). Railroads use networked communications to control switches. So does the ATC system. All can be hacked into if you can get access to the communicatons lines and know how.
Best Slashdot Co
I got this whole Alice's Restaurant Flashback moment reading this. Sorry.
But back home in the 21st Century, am I the only one who sees this as a better-than-average recruiting effort on the part of the U.S. Army (at a time when their falling shy of their recruitment goals)? I'm guessing they are hoping scenes like this play out at recruitment stations across the fruited plain:
Wired Reader: "Um, I read how, like, the army is hiring and training all these 733t Uber-hax00rs to, like, simply own terrorist websites and shit...?"
Recruiting Officer: "Yup. Sign here."
WR: "So, like, do we get to wear baggy camo pants and high boots and put our hats on backward and shit...?"
RO: "Sure. Sign here."
WR: "Umm, so, does our brigade or garrison or whatever have, like, our own kewl insignia, like a fist holding lightning bolts or some rad shit like that...?"
RO: "Uh huh. Sign here."
WR: "What are we called, like, the '81st Cybernetic,' or the 'Electric Underground' or some cool shit like that...?"
RO: "Something like that. Sign here."
WR: "And I get to carry a gun?"
RO: "Oh, Yes. And we give you free bullets and coffee. Sign here."
WR: "Free Coffee?! D00d, I'm, like, so-o-o-o-o there! Where do I sign?"
RO (smiling): "Here, son. Sign right here."
How about Forcefully Undulating Computer Killers with Totally Awesome Reconnaisance Devices in Zimbabwe?
have been known for calling them Worldwide Technical Fighters...
WTF?.. WTF?...
- Your stupidity got you into this mess, why can't it get you out? -Will Rogers
The only thing the enemy would need to employ to completely overwhelm and undermine this army of nerds would be..... a female.
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
Federal Unary Computer Killers
With the following divisions:
Middle East
Internal Technology
Oversea's Fighting Force
and of course, where do they train....
Yahoo Operations University
you missed...
National Electronic Research and Defense Service