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.'"

Comments

Found them

[xhydra]

ICBM launch codes found on torrent site. http://www.torrentspy.com/torrent/ICBM_Launch_CODE S_TXT_Istorrent_74542

Re:You know what bothered me most about that story

[CRC'99]

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?

I love it when they get it wrong.... It was 1500 accounts, not computers. Get the story from a real IT news source.

Re:Gates onto something??

[Karrde45]

Gates calling himself low tech is most likely an attempt to deflect further questions. It was well known in his time at Texas A&M that he would personally respond to many emails from students, and as he was leaving the university he made it known that he frequented a popular aggie message board. http://www.texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_i d=768382&forum_id=5

Hammer

[freedom_india]

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.

Re:Hammer

[freedom_india]

Search for hammer or toilet seats at http://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/
Read the story at http://gutrumbles.com/archives2/001873.php

And the hammer in question was a Modal Impact Hammer costing $1,000 originally.
Have you bid on government, especially military contracts?

The military *did* pay $600 for a device that had a handle on one end and a striking surface on the other, but that was a 'hammer' in the same way that a mainframe computer is an 'adding machine'.

The specs for an Ashtray are similar to specs for an F-22 Raptor (the spec book outweighs the ashtray) because the military is so exact in its specs.
To make them, contractors often have to specially have special plates/machines which can't be used for anything else often.

Yes i agree that there are wastages and contractors earn a lot. But it is limited to KBR, Halliburton variety, the majority of other contractors are mom-and-pop variety with sales less than $2.5 mil annually and actually struggle.

Re:Gates onto something??

[gruntled]

As a general rule, sensitive information is already prohibited on military computers that are connected to the Internet. If you've ever seen an office in, say, the Department of Homeland Security, you'll notice that they have two or even three systems on each desk; that's because none of those computers are connected to each other. Computers that can touch the Internet can't have anything sensitive on them; computers that might have something sensitive on them can't touch the Internet.

He has used email

[Nyeerrmm]

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.

Re:Gates onto something??

[halivar]

Gates got an academic scholarship to College of William and Mary, got a master's at Indiana U. (history), and a Ph.D. from Georgetown (Russian history). He served as president of Texas A&M, and initially declined an appointment as head of DHS to remain there.

So, what exactly is your definition of "intellectual" and "diploma mill?"

Re:Gates onto something??

[idontgno]

In the classified processing facilities I've seen, the PCs have no writeable removable media (CD-ROM drive only, no floppy drive, etc.) and the USB, Firewire, and unused I/O ports are filled with epoxy. And the cases are locked shut with the tamper-detection switch active. And reporting to something like Tivoli or HP OpenView.

Did I mention the network switches also administratively disable any network port that shows a significant interruption in ethernet link status (or change in attached MAC address)? So don't bother trying to switch out PCs either.

Ultimately, I'm sure it can be worked around. Just not very easily, and failing means an espionage trial and a few months or years in federal pound-you-in-the... well, you know.

Re:Gates onto something??

[spun]

The ones I've seen are as you describe, only with removable drives. The drives with classified data on them are kept in a separate vault, you have to check out the individual drive with the data you need, take it to the secured computer, plug it in and use it, and then check it back in. And they weren't on any kind of a network, they were in a EM shielded room with nothing but electrical wires leading in and out.