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Crackers Cause Pentagon to Put Computers Offline
Anarchysoft writes "As many as 1500 Pentagon computers were brought offline on Wednesday in response to a cyber attack. Defense Secretary Robert Gates reported of the fallout both that the attack had 'no adverse impact on department operations' and that 'there will be some administrative disruptions and personal inconveniences.' When asked whether his own e-mail had been compromised, Gates responded, 'I don't do e-mail. I'm a very low-tech person.'"
first post? O.o
this is probably the most boring sig in the world
I recommend a less-crumbly type of snack, like carrot sticks or celery. Dip is right out.
...that the hairdresser's hair is the one with the ugliest haircut.
this is probably the most boring sig in the world
those crafty crackas!
Do we really need a damn USA tag? Seriously, this is a US-centric site, so naturally more stories are going to come from the US. I don't see any EU, UK, AU, etc tags.
That hacker will never figure out what to do with the launch codes to the continental ICBM inventory. On the other hand, can you imagine a nuclear attack being started from an iPhone?
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
Actually, this makes Gates sound stupid but as a general rule don't put sensitive information on computers connected to the internet. The best security is not having the damn wires there in the first place. At the top levels of government, where nation-states are trying to install spyware, intercept and decrypt your packets, and otherwise penetrate your defense, maybe having one of a thousand aides sneakernet it is a good solution.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
Not sure if you call fireworks crackers in the USA, but its the 1st thing I thought when reading the subject.
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
Another slashdot meme in the making?
"I don't do $technology, I'm a very low-tech person."
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Scene: Secretary Gates's office - dawn
A PERSISTENT BEEPING breaks the stillness.
SECRETARY GATES stumbles in from an adjoining room, bleary-eyed. Another all-nighter of trying to keep the world safe for democracy.
SECRETARY GATES: What the blazes is it now?
He picks up his Big Red Phone.
SECRETARY GATES: Gates here. What is it?
TECH #1: Sir! This is Collins at Central. We've got a situation -- massive DOS, widely distributed. One of the worst yet.
SECRETARY GATES: Damn! Tell me it's not--
TECH #1: Bad news, sir. It's your brother.
BILL GATES: Mwa ha ha ha!
SECRETARY GATES: Curse you, Bill! What infernal scheme have you cooked up now?
BILL GATES: By making Windows insecure and ensuring its worldwide adoption, I now have an army of millions of zombie computers at my disposal! I will instruct them to PERMANENTLY destroy your computer network unless you pay me... <pinky>one hundred BEEEELLYON dollars!</pinky>
SECRETARY GATES: But... you already have billions of dollars!
BILL GATES: Yes, but Mother always liked you better, so now I'm overcompensating. Top of the world, ma!
JAMES CAGNEY'S GHOST: Cut that out!
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
...this is a guy who has the near-final say on which technologies the money goes.
Anyway, it surely wouldn't be him, maybe more the companies...
> I really seems that none of the politicians or bureaucrats in the U.S. government have the slightest clue.
Fixed that for ya.
OMG! this guys sooo cuuuuute... i appreciate the guys' honesty.
fifteen jugglers, five believers
Ofcourse not. The politicians are too worried about whose pocket they can reach into next and the officials are too worried about not screwing up getting them fired.
This is what happens when you elect idiots who don't believe in government but do believe in political favors.
The Farewell Tour II
I could think of a million important questions to ask in a situation like this if I were a reporter:
"What specific systems were attacked?"
"Do we have an idea as to who the attackers were? Al Queda? The Chinese?"
"Were any intelligence reports lost? What steps are being taken to ensure the safety of individuals whose data may have been compromised
etc, etc, ad naseum....,
Instead, we get a single insipid question pondering the Secretary of Defense's private email habits and his moderately disturbing technophobic response. Sheesh.
... who thought this story had something to do with sysadmins dribbling cracker crumbs in places where they don't belong?
Uh oh... we know what this means.... Oh my God, they killed Billy! You bastards!!
The headline should have been "Crackers Cause Pentagon to Put Computers Down". Not only do we get eatery jokes, but we can complain about how PETA will go after the Pentagon. Remember, Pentagons take servers offline, not crackers!
Something witty goes here.
Hey, hammers are $600. What more do you need to know about 'em.
Taken out of context like this, this statement can be very confusing. I mean, Bill Gates not using e-mail? WTF?
Seriously, though, the guy's 63. OK, so e-mail's been around for quite some time... but basically, it's quite a time-consuming means of communication for anyone with a poor eyesight, lack of typing skills (and computer skills in general).
And that's without having to deal with spam.
What actually interests me is - why isn't all e-mail heavily encrypted?
Then again, people have entered - IIRC - the Pentagon, the CIA building and the NSA building flashing an ID with a picture of a person of a different race, with "THIS IS A FAKE ID" in big block letters.
Is basic security so hard to train?
Ignore this signature. By order.
on his VCR must get on his nerves. Does anyone really believe that he is being honest about his lack of technical aptitude? I believe that about as much as I believe that George Bush didn't know the difference between a Shiite and a Sunni. Gates may or may not do email, but nobody will successfully subpoena any of it. He is jerking you off, folks.
At least when something goes wrong with a sealed message sent over the sneakernet, you'll know that something has gone wrong.
Encryption isn't common in the current internet. And it is possible for someone to copy data and leave hardly any trace that it was copied.
"Copyright infringement isn't theft." Is copying another state's secrets theft if the original copy of the secrets is still in the original computer?
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
I guess Gomer got hisself a kompooter.
> It really seems that none of the politicians or bureaucrats in the U.S. government have the slightest clue. Fixed that for ya.
But surely white-crackers* only become crumbly when deep-fried?
* my apols, I only just learned what that means and am referring to it as a way of integrating it in my system memory ... brutherrrrrr - polywanna
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
I agree. Hackers today are not ParMasters of yesteryears.
I guess they were just looking to recruit more zombies for their credit card scams and by mistake they stumbled upon the DoD unsecure network.
Heck, half the jokers (who call themselves hackers) can't even expand the acronym ICBM in full. And i bet $100 that one of the words in their expansion would be either International or Business.
The DoD is fretting unnecessarily.
A whole generation has already been dumbed down by McDonalds, Pepsi and KFC, not to mention Desperate Housewives, Paris Hilton, Britney's head antics etc.
So the worst these jokers can do is to filch the CC numbers of some DoD officials and buy some "close massage services" or buy fle$hlight.
Today's jokers are more interested in earning serious money quickly and buy a Lamby or an Aston-Martin or an iPhone atleast.
Lameduck attacks against a lameduck department.
Its like one ant colony waging war against another ant colony 10 yards away while humans watch it amusingly...
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
That's the lamest excuse for incompetence. I'd *almost* buy that if we were talking about some retired grandmother or something.
But saying "the guy's 63", like he's completely incapable of learning is just ridiculous. I've worked with people older than that, and none of them had any problem using email. In this day and age, I think just about anybody with a "white collar" type of job can send and receive email.
"I don't do email" was avoiding the question. He gives orders that affect hundreds of billions of dollars worth of high tech military equipment, and controls hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but he's baffled by email? I just don't buy it.
Which isn't to say I don't think he's incompetent. He's just not incompetent in this particular way ;-)
Maybe not
Speaking of R-tards..
Do you even take measures to prevent the so-called, prevalent "keyloggers" to make it on your PC in the first place? Dont patch? Just run everything that is sent to you via email?
I call BS, becuase why would you have to reformat a linux box? Well I guess your probably running some joke of a "every service running out of the box" version of R-Tard Linux from CD's you bought 5 years ago? If your gonna go that route, just go with a virtual-machine.
Even if u have to run windows, its not that difficult to keep it somewhat secure. Patch. Dont run anything you dont TRUST. Virii defs up to date. And for the truly paranoid run somthing like SIM or Osiris.
It was a British judge who didn't know what websites were.
Or, maybe he doesn't want to make himself a target and figured if he didn't admit to having an e-mail people wouldn't try to gain access to his account. But then again this won't stop someone from comprimising an entire e-mail server and then stumbling upon his account. I guess this is just another reason why usernames shouldn't be so identicale to the person's name, I personally always thought cryptic usernames (a few letters followed by numbers, not your initials btw) are a good idea. If someone gains access to your e-mail server, at least there isn't a big red bull's eye painted on your e-mail account.
The $600 hammer was explained thusly: A box of miscellaneous parts, including some very expensive high-tech items and some cheap low-tech ones (like hammers), was shipped. By the accounting rules, each item is assigned an identical part of the shipping and processing costs. So the hammer cost like $10, plus $590 in processing, while there were $5000 items in there that also had $590 in processing assigned to them. Some idiot soldier opened the box, saw the invoice, and called his congressman.
Shouldn't it be the other way around?
There's nothing of substance in the article.
My guess is this was related to the MPACK issue, but us nerds knew about that over the geekend.
Employees whose computers were affected could still use their 'handheld BlackBerries'. OMG that means hackers compromised the Desktop Blackberries
"Drawing closer to world domination, keystroke by keystroke."
He didn't say he's baffled by it; he said he doesn't do it. He probably knows how to clean a toilet, too, but doesn't clean the Pentagon's toilets.
And why is the ability to use email now a yardstick for someone being capable to do their job? I flew aircraft, using email was totally irrelevant. Nor is it a critical skill for a shopkeeper, a gardener, a fireman or a million other tasks. Sure, they can all use it if they wish to do so, but it does not affect their ability to do their job. I commanded large groups of people and I didn't need to use an email to do it. Lots of information had to be written down but an email was NOT an acceptable format for a set of orders, an intelligence assessment, a personal report on a subordinate or a request for leave. In my environment, you had to be able to write correctly and accurately, using a big boy's pen. Yes, it could be typed, using a traditional typewriter or a computer, but it still didn't need an email to do it. For security reasons, the vast majority of the computers that I used were either standalone or on very limited networks. The email facility, if used at all, wasn't always high up on the list. You probably work in something connected to computers, hence your interest here on /. You are probably interested in technology and other geek pursuits. It might be important to you, but that doesn't make it important to others.
Have a look at soylentnews.org for a different view
If you're a member of the military with some rank, shouting is a much more effective mode of communication. I imagine Microsoft producing specialized keyboards for the military, such as the MS Multimedia Sergeant Keyboard, which defaults to caps lock being always on.
Task Mangler
How do we know the race of those involved? I'd appreciate more respectful language as well, thanks.
Giving a crap is hard to train, especially in rent-a-cops, which the rush to outsource formerly Military functions to contractors has put in charge of all forms of security in CONUS.
Something about a lack of personnel for "non Combat duty" due to "force structure".
It's hacker, okay? Hacker. When someone is able to write code to get a computer to do something awesomely good, that person is a hacker. When someone manages to get a computer to do something is awesomely evil, that's also a hacker. If someone builds a spice rack for Gandhi, or a spice rack for Stalin, they're still both carpenters. Trying to frontload the term with your own moral judgment is just a little too newspeak for me.
vk.
What in Hell are those guys doing if taking 1500 'puters off line doesn't affect operations? Should those 'puters even BE on-line then?
*shakes head*
--Tomas
give him a break. he's obviously 6
Now, every other person online will mock him for not knowing how to use email, and being "low tech".
There is no reason why a person should use such new technology, when most of you probably spend all your time sitting of furniture you have no idea how to build (most have no idea how to build a chair that lasts a week), spend a life inside a home with no understanding of architecture or even the most basic ability to alter your surroundings, no ability to fix a broken toilet, repair a frozen refrigerator, fix a broken washing machine, or just replace a window in your house with a new one. And these are things that people live with from their early childhood, unavoidable parts of everyone's lives."Low tech" so to speak.
But when a person doesn't use email? OMG ROFL ROFL ROFL WHAT A DUMBASS NEWB.
My Starcraft 2 Blog
What could someone like that gain from personally using email?
Actually, I wonder how many CEOs use email.
ICBM launch codes found on torrent site. http://www.torrentspy.com/torrent/ICBM_Launch_CODE S_TXT_Istorrent_74542
"Drawing closer to world domination, keystroke by keystroke."
That's the question.
;-)
The CIAs and NSAs operations are totally secret, maybe they attacked a cybertarget before, and that's the just a counterattack. That's a widely known strategy to control the media. The public thinks their countries computers are attacked by evil guys from whereever because they can't link that event to the secret event done by their own secret service before. So the (counter)attacker looks more wvil ("Hey, why do they hate us???") and the government can use this to raise the fear of the people. Also the computer guys from the services can demand more money for defense of the countries networks.
You shouldn't believe everything the secret services (of any country) make public. Especially when they make something public
I couldn't agree more
I love it when they get it wrong.... It was 1500 accounts, not computers. Get the story from a real IT news source.
Sendmail is like emacs: A nice operating system, but missing an editor and a MTA.
FYI, that's not crackers. Thats hackers. Does anyone else find it incredibly annoying when main stream media get these 2 terms confused? Do you find it doubly annoying when people who should know better like SLASHDOT get them confused?
I do. Not sure why really. But I do.
Yep. When you get to that level of management, it is a more efficient use of your time to have a trusted aide or secretary read 100 emails and summarize them into the 5 things you need to worry about this afternoon than it is to read the emails yourself. Its the same reason why he doesn't make his own appointments, despite the low demands of carrying a paper notebook in his pocket to record them in.
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
Stallman.....Is that you?
"Drawing closer to world domination, keystroke by keystroke."
He seemed perfectly fine letting people talk about secret military matters on their insecured wireless crackberries.
About CEOs, based on rumors and wild speculation, I've heard that Michael Dell does indeed use email, and does it pretty much directly. This is why he has to change email addresses pretty frequently, whenever it becomes known to the wider world and they start sending him hatemail / penis enlargement ads / technical support questions.
In contrast, some other CEOs have catchy, widely-published email addresses, and I can only assume whole staffs of people to read their Inbox and sort the wheat from the chaff. Sam Palmisano (CEO of IBM) used to have an address that was like "sam@ibm.com" or something like that. I thought it was kinda cool, but then realized that anyone sending an email there, thinking a CEO is actually going to read it, is on as much crack as someone who writes to their Senator and doesn't realize that it's going to be read and filed by some unpaid summer intern.
Anyway, although I've never gotten to use them, most of the big corporate email suites (Exchange, Notes, etc.) have features that allow for 'delegation' of people's email boxes to secretaries and assistants. So an executive can have their own address but route all the mail coming into it to an assistant, who can sort through and pass stuff along appropriately. And that's for executives that do any of their own email.
Doubtless, at the very high end of the power ladder, there are people whose time is just so valuable that it's wasteful to ever have them sitting and typing at a keyboard -- it's cheaper to have a well-paid executive assistant actually read, summarize, note the desired response to, draft, and present for approval the responses to, all incoming messages. Whether most CEOs do that I don't know (I suspect not too many, anymore), but I bet that a lot of high-ranking government officials do it that way.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
The hammer in question was Platinum. Because only platinum does NOT produce sparks [of fire] when struck against other metals in a flammable environment.
The congress critter who displayed the hammer for all to see conveniently failed to mention it was platinum.
Now since platinum looks more or less like highly polished steel from a distance, people took it as ripping off..
The military may be an idiot in many ways: Paying contractors and money? I don;t think they are that dumb.
And the toilet seat incident? It was a bolt-down toilet for a transport plane with ability to prevent automatic regurgitation when the plane does a hoop-a-hoop (throwing poop on crew is NOT advisable in war].
Yes, the military was overcharged. But not to the degree you think. The contractors overcharged by 15% on platinum and 12% on toilet seats.
And the military got the money back.
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
Perl script, default passwords and a modem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_McKinnon
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
I would much rather trust in a good strong encryption than something as easy to loose/copy/show to someone/etc as simple PAPER.
I think you read too much into the phrase, if you were right he would've said something as "I dont put sensitive information on computers connected to the internet" instead of the much stupider "i don't do email" Not doing email today is like not doing faxes 20 years ago, as telex was a bitch. Not secure enough is an ignorant reply, specially coming from the guy briefing the president in all things Security
I guess this is just another reason why usernames shouldn't be so identicale to the person's name, I personally always thought cryptic usernames (a few letters followed by numbers, not your initials btw) are a good idea
...
So much about 'Security Through Obfuscation' for you
Agreed.
I use the terms hacking and hack when I refer to my code. Usually when I am referring to something I worked up quickly, or something that makes me recoil in agony but solves a problem, such as my three body problem workaround (oh gods, the horror, but it does work). I don't tend to use it to describe really good code, or stuff that I've matured over time, I didn't think that was what it meant, doesn't to me anyway.
I don't care frankly whether or not the term is used to describe people who do illegal stuff. They 'hack' websites and banks, I hack code. There's no point getting all worked up about it, or so I think. It's about as likely for 'hacking' to no longer be used for describing illegal stuff as it is for Chedder to regain exclusive use of their Mark.
Cracker just sounds stupid to me anyway.
Reality is that which, when we cease to believe in it, still exists. - Philip K Dick
According to some reports, the crackers say they were driven to desperate measures. "We had to go this far because they just weren't listening to our concerns. How much more of being spread with this soft, white mush should we tolerate? Is a decent Cheddar so much to ask for?!"
But we did have pretzels almost kill the President, so those condiments are now a matter of national security.
As a Caucasian I find the whole article racist!
Something witty goes here.
Shouldn't it be the other way around?
The Slashdot editors have been infected by their own "In Soviet Russia..." joke. From now on everything will be the other way round.
ccalam - acoustic versions of new songs.
i think in this time and age we need to think /install a backdoor. ...
...
a bit PR for computer savvy people.
anyway, acctually crackers are evil.
hackers are not.
me thinks.
what is important is to distinguish between the two, because
of the less computer savvy people out there (big media company
with not too smart reporters).
anyway, a hacker might breakinto the DoD or such, but might leave
a message like "all ur base belong to u.s.(sic)" and append a
guide how to avoid a future breakin, a craker might acctually
destroy something / steal something
so there you go
so, for PR sake, keep to teh difference, please
How did they know it was pasty white guys?
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. - Will Rogers
I know for a fact that the Owner/President(not the CEO) of the company I work for, doesn't use email. The man is smart, rich, and an accomplished Mechanical Engineer, simply doesn't have a computer at any of his person offices (in the multipe factories that belong to him)
My Starcraft 2 Blog
Zero Cool would have nabbed 1507.
"I have people to do that for me".
Deleted
"In Microsoft-land, e-mail does you."
Just FYI, I would guess that the 'I don't use email' statement is mostly tongue-in-cheek, with a mode of truth (e.g. his secretary handles most of the actual process.)
As a student at Texas A&M University (where Dr. Gates was president until 6 months ago,) he communicated with the student body regularly via email, and in fact that was how I first learned of his nomination as Secretary of Defense.
Yes, they are hackers. There's no question about that, but hacker is a vague term. Cracker is a more specific and descriptive term, and it does not mean someone who does something "awesomely evil". It means specifically someone who breaks through some security measure (like a safe cracker would for instance). A cracker does not necessarily do anything "evil" either. An example of what I would call a cracker is someone who's job it is to test a security system by trying to crack it, which can be very important inn assuring that the security system is effective.
What you are talking about in your post is the difference between "black hat" and "white hat" hackers, which, although most crackers are probably black hat, the two terms are not synonymous as I understand them. Also note that there can be black hat hackers who are not crackers. For instance, you could write adware or spyware without being a cracker, although malware that exploits security flaws may be more effective.
The only thing I know is that I don't know anything; and I'm not even sure about that.
Hello? The message really isn't getting through to you morons, is it?
Flamebait me, it's gonna help ya feel better.
you had me at #!
I don't buy that.
Execs like to save time, and email is ASynchronous Communication, whereupon the message is still there 6 hours later after your eleven meetings. Even if he has an army of bees to assist, it's still his email.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
I really hope none of your + mod points came from this:
""Copyright infringement isn't theft." Is copying another state's secrets theft if the original copy of the secrets is still in the original computer?"
If they did, both you and the moderators need taken out and shot.
No?..then nevermind.
But if you are anywhere near trying to be serious with this one, crawl back in mom's basement...you aren't done yet.
This will not get you into a copyright or theft problem...this gets you stood in front of firing squads, free Gitmo vacations, Siberian mine explorations, gallows, and other Bad Things.
You must be new here, and new to the real world too.
P.S. If this was an attempt at humour...you failed.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
It's good they identified the race of the the intruders...
But do they have to be referred to in such derogatory terms
"When asked whether his own e-mail had been compromised, Gates responded, 'I don't do e-mail. I'm a very low-tech person.'"
Later, when notified that his carrier pigeon had been intercepted on its way to Iraq, Gates declared a state of emergency and had the threat level raised to orange.
I think the invisible hand of the market has its middle finger extended
--A wise old fart named SC0RN
Here I thought there was some security breach because of some Ritz crackers...
Who is John Galt?
For all those of you bashing Gates and claiming he's a buffoon simply because he doesn't use e-mail -- you do realize that Knuth doesn't either, right?
Titus Barik
My first reaction was, "what do white people have against the pentagon? They're the ones that run the military/industrial complex to begin with!".
It's a nice round number - just like those sixteen thousand WMD sites in Iraq. We need a reliable source here.
No, there are rules for slashdot that stipulate moderation should be opposite what a person states they are going to receive, believe it is Section 3, Article 8. Since you said you would be modded down, there is no need to worry, unless you really wanted to be modded down. I'm not sure if there are rules on reverse psychology in place, I will have to consult the moderation manual.
Yes.
Just wondering.
EMail: 0110001101100010010000000110001101110010 0110000101111010011011100110000101110010 0010111001100011011011110110
Honkeys Make Other Honkeys Go Outside for a Change
(Okay, so it's been done. Sorry.)
Just goes to show everyone in the country how a government run by conservatives will accomplish nothing but failure.
Such a statement shouldn't elicit laughter, it should elicit concern.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Seriously,
Slashdot might have a multinational following, but in the end it is a US site. And we all have a right to be patriotic about our own countries? So let Slashdot us the flag for their own country.
I might not like some of things my country does, but I still love it, still like seeing the flag.
Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Really. I don't know *everything*, but damn it, I know how to fix shit. And I'm a geek.
But I just couldn't let this pass...
Dude, just unplug it.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29023
"Evil Genius Gates Drops Windows 98 Into NYC Water Supply"
Man do I love The Onion. SFW.
With the first link, the chain is forged.
This story is exactly why most governments don't particularly want an internet where upload bandwidth is the same as download and there's a reasonable possibility for anonymity. "Cracker" stories like this start appearing more frequently with the same amount of non-information below the headline. As another post mentions, there are few if any facts.
The U.S. government is preparing to legislate the end of the Internet as a democratizing force by turning it into a content delivery mechnanism. But they can't legislate without preparing public opinion. My bet is TPM is sold as a safety feature to protect us from "cracker stories" like this. After all, if you aren't a bad guy then it should be no problem right?
Even if I'm dead wrong, (and I might be) recent political history is full of examples where news events is at worst fabricated, at best spun to justify all kind of crazy agendas.
Got Trader Joe's? friendwich.com RSS feeds work now!
I wish I could rate you higher. Thanks for saying it...
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0706/S00317.htm
... ...
When Hamas gunmen stormed the Fatah security compounds in Gaza last week they found huge supplies of American-made weaponry including 7,400 M-16 assault rifles, dozens of mounted machine guns, rocket launchers, 7 armored military jeeps, 800,000 rounds of bullets and 18 US-made armored personnel carriers. They also discovered something far more valuable--- CIA files which purportedly contain "information about the collaboration between Fatah and the Israeli and American security organizations; CIA methods on how to prevent attacks, chase and follow after cells of Hamas and the Committees; plans about Fatah assassinations of members of Hamas and other organizations; and American studies on the security situation in Gaza." (Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily.com)
"the files contain, among other information, details of CIA networks in the Middle East"
I have waaaaay too many memories of supervisors saying "I never said that." Of course, I still have supervisors who want every encounter face-to-face, ostensibly because they feel that email is impersonal. Guess which supervisors have rather flexible memories when it comes to what they did and didn't say to me?
I'll even type up what we discussed right after the meeting and pass it by them to "make sure I understood," and they just reply with "see me." But I push for written records as often as I can. Only weasels and illiterates hate email.
Not that i read the entire story, but if the DoD shut down computers as part of a protection procedure in event of an attempted attack, i don't think id give the criminal the credit.
Sounds like good practice to me. If someone tries to attack your building, you lock the doors..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
In general. at least (no pun intended).
A good IT policy will be restrictive, and put limits on its users. Officers, especially the asshats that make it to the Pentagon, hate have restrictions put on them. Some high ranking zero probably whined when he found out that some web sites were blocked, and when he couldn't get to "Ostrichlove.com", told the IT guys to remove all blocking from his computer. Then the officer and his colleagues started visiting all sorts of nasty virus infected sites. Not to mention all the people taking their laptops home with them to do "work".
When I worked at Pt Mugu Naval Station, my unit CO called me into his office to tell me that a colleague had sent a classified document through the unclassified email system, and asked me what he had to do. I told him that the Base IT department had to be informed, and that per official memorandums his computer, and possible the base mail server and the originating base mail server and sending computer would have to be digitally scrubbed, and an incident report filed with the Navy Computer Incidence Response Team. He turned to the (civilian) IT guy who had walked into the room after me, and whined "can't I just delete the letter, and there will be no classified material on my PC?" The IT guy immediately said "Yes sir, that's all that needs to be done!".
The captain was happy; he got the answer he wanted to hear. The IT guy was happy; he had gotten out of doing a lot of work and made the captain happy.
In 1914 General Joffre, commander of the French forces, refused to use the telephone...
There are numerous references to Joffre using the telephone, such as this one about the Battle of the Marne in 1914:
One can understand that written messages have an advantage over orders issued verbally since they are less likely to be confused when they are relayed or remembered. For a similar reason, email messages today have an advantage over the telephone calls.
Then I remembered that for some time now, some people who think of themselves as "hackers" (in the original sense of the word) have played language nazi every time they've heard the more popular use of the word. "No!" they exclaim. "You mean cracker!"
This ignores two important linguistic principles:
"Copyright infringement isn't theft." Is copying another state's secrets theft if the original copy of the secrets is still in the original computer?
No, that's still not theft. That's espionage.
It might be theft if you deleted the files.
*ring, ring* ... but it'll cost you."
Secretary: "This is the office of the Pentagon, how may I direct your call?"
Cracker: "Yes, Pentagon? I have something you may want
Robert Gates -- Bob Gates
William Gates - Bill Gates
I'd hate to see these two powerheads exist in the same system.
this could be the "cracking" that took place.
bobert> I WAN BGATES@PH.INT
billiam> NO I WAN BGATES@PH.INT
bobert> I HAX U!
billiam> I CRAS UR COMPUTAR!
bobert> BRIGN IT PUNX!
billiam quit: (No Route to Host)
bobert quit: (Broken Pipe)
* the_world rejoices.
there are 10 types of people in this world; those who get this joke, and those who don't
Yeah, if we didn't have a silly-sounding neologism that nobody uses to describe the distinction, nobody could possibly distinguish between "improvisational engineering" from "computer crime".
Again, no. There are some black boxes on Congress's defense appropriation bills--they don't micromanage everything--but for many years, I've heard about Congress setting aside money to fund specific projects the military doesn't actually want to pursue, such as that VTOL hover-aircraft. This gets done because the project in question sounds like a neat idea and brings jobs to, or keeps them in, some important representative's district.
Once money is allocated by Congress, it must be spent toward the goals it's allocated to. The only question for the Secretary of Defense and underlings is how efficiently to spend it--how much goes to $6000 screwdrivers, one-corp. bids, bids guaranteed to run over, etc.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
At least that's what I gather from reading Keegan's "Face of Battle" (which is mostly a horribly overrated book, though it has sections on Waterloo and the Somme that I enjoyed).
Keegan says the British built a huge network of phone lines that linked all the starting positions of the British and French divisions. They were buried under the duckboards of the trenches, deeper and deeper as they neared no-man's land, until finally terminating at six feet deep. This was to protect them from bombing, but it was apparently a major strategic mistake since it also made them more difficult for friendly forces to work with. Once a phone was shot or bombed off, you had to dig down six feet and find the bitter end before you could get back on the wire.
Robert Gates isn't an exec, he's a Secretary of Defense. Using time efficiently isn't quite as high a priority in the gov.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
I too find it hard to take that someone in that position would claim to be low-tech. Even if it's true, I can't believe he actually said it. :-)
I remember reading somewhere that the US goverment changed the codes (not the launch codes, I think it was the doors) to something like 1234567 because they were afraid that in the event of attack they wouldn't be able to locate/remember the proper codes.