Significant Russian Attack On US Military Networks

killmofasta notes an LA Times story on a severe and widespread attack on US military computers that may have originated in Russia. Turns out the military's recent ban on flash drives was a precursor to this attack, which was significant enough that the President and the Defense Secretary were briefed on it. "The 'malware' strike, thought to be from inside Russia, hit combat zone computers and the US Central Command overseeing Iraq and Afghanistan. The attack underscores concerns about computer warfare. 'This one was significant; this one got our attention,' said one defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity when discussing internal assessments. Although officials are withholding many details, the attack underscores the increasing danger and potential significance of computer warfare, which defense experts say could one day be used by combatants to undermine even a militarily superior adversary. ... [A defense official said] 'We have taken a number of corrective measures, but I would be overstating it if I said we were through this.'"

Comments

It isn't just targeting the US.

[Anonymous Coward]

Anonymous coward here, for a reason etc.

I work with the USAF in a very official capacity in IT and got wind of the flash media ban a while back.

I've been asked to keep quiet about this, but since it isn't classified, and nobody takes slashdot seriously, take this for what it is worth:

We stopped using all flash media on all networks because we can no longer be confident that they do not come from the factory with payloads attached. I've seen entire boxes of flash media from the "amnesty boxes" set up inside USAF buildings sent off to NSA and FBI for investigation.

There are some who think that manufacturers have been infiltrated with the sole purpose of loading malware onto drives. And it isn't that it's specifically an attack on US Gov. computers - it's just that Gov. networks tend to be pretty incestuous, and flash drives are often moved back and forth between multiple computers daily by most users due to the flakiness of CAC (common access card) infrastructure.

So beware.

Re:KGB or Spotty Teenagers?

[Kent Recal]

It probably is some windows worm or something written by a script-kiddie. But to admit that would be to embarrassing, so they make it out to be a big deal.

It is exactly this vain "cover-my-ass" attitude that makes situations escalate, sometimes up to the point of war. I understand that a bunch of old farts in DoD feel a strong need to justify (or increase) their Cyberwarfare budgets but pointing fingers at an allied country (relations with which are not always easy) in public over a non-issue like this is, imho, going way too far.

Network security by isolation of the critical parts is possible and this whole "cyberwarfare"-bullshit is just driving tears into the eyes of anyone who knows a bit about the subject.
Yes, an attacker could overload and DoS less important/perimeter networks and yes an attacker may able to overtake various individual machines or department networks, e.g. by sneaking trojans onto employee's computers, phishing etc.

If any of that worries you in a national-security kind of way then do your fucking homework and implement appropiate security layers and airgaps already!
A flash trojan is a non-issue because a critical system won't run flash. In fact, a critical system won't even interface with a system that could be taken over in such a way.

"We have always been at war with East Asia"

[leoofborg]

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Also, the CBC [Canadians] are running sensationalist crud on their TV.

Most irritating soundbite from a DHS 'expert':

"Digital Pearl Harbor"

I think they must have run the same quote 3-4 times.

Me? I think the military / DoD is begging for $$$ as usual. What? We didn't bail out the military? Shame!