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Cyber Attacks On US Military Jump Sharply In 2009
angry tapir writes "Cyber attacks on the US Department of Defense — many of them coming from China — have jumped sharply in 2009, a US congressional committee has reported. Citing data provided by the US Strategic Command, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said that there were 43,785 malicious cyber incidents targeting Defense systems in the first half of the year. That's a big jump. In all of 2008, there were 54,640 such incidents. If cyber attacks maintain this pace, the yearly increase will be around 60 percent. The full report (PDF) is available online."
They aren't dumb enough to have anything actually important connected to the internet... Right? ...right? :(
What would be interesting to know is that if these are targeted attacks specifically against US military networks, or just random scanning for vulnerabilities by every day botnets? I think it's the later case, because if they were targeted attacks they would be stupid not to hide their origins and you wouldn't know they are from china or similar country. Or maybe they're just playing with people's image of bad china and north korea.
And since when North Korean's have had internet?
That's a lot of money... That's almost 8 full hours of what is being spent on Iraq.
And here I was, thinking that the Presidential Apology Tour would make it all better.
On a serious note, by moving our high tech industry offshore we have helped to make it happen. Now, with a broken economy, we appear weak, and we invite ridicule and attack. Clever bandaids added to firewalls will make little difference long term. We need to regain strength and respect. This is not just a technical problem. Our recent administrations (Republicrats and Demopublican alike) through suicidal short-sighted policies aimed only to benefit a few fat cats have made us an easy target. Such is the fate of a fallen giant. Everyone wants to kick him. After all, what are we going to do about it?
End anonymous moderation and posting on
I have linux boxes all over the place and there are literally thousands of ssh/sft/etc attempts on each box each day. None of them are successful though. Can I claim that my boxes have more attacks than the US Military?
A better approach may be to rig some computers so that they are easy to hack. We install some deliberately malicious software on those fake computers. Then, we disperse those fake computers among the real computers.
Here is the ideal scenario. A typical Chinese hacker will probe all the computers at the Department of Defense. The probe will easily succeed in penetrating one of the rigged computers. He downloads plenty of software. He will then try to run them. One of the ill-gotten applications then replicates itself and spreads throughout the Chinese Ministry of War.
The rogue application disables the safety mechanism in a Chinese nuclear warhead. On the anniversary of the Chinese invasion of Tibet, the warhead explodes. It melts (literally) the entire military base and kills thousands of Chinese citizens in the nearby town.
On the day of that fire ball, the Chinese hackers will cease their activities for several months.
China is in a cold war with the west. These attacks are also going after European and Oceania countries. The question is, when will the west realize that the same means that was used to stop USSR is being quietly used against the West.
Are there actually that many more attacks, or are they just detecting more of them? I wouldn't be at all surprised if in years past, a lot of military computers have been pwned without anyone knowing it happened ... especially given the DoD's ongoing love affair with Windows.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
"Attacker":
bt3# ping spacecommand.mil
DOD:
ubermaliciouscyberincidents++
You're assuming that the software controlling nuclear warheads is exposed to the network. The US certainly isn't stupid enough to do that, and I doubt China is either.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
The PRC is also recruiting from its growing population of technically skilled people, including those from the private sector, to increase its cyber capabilities. It is recruiting skilled cyber operators from information technology firms and computer science programs into the ranks of numerous Information Warfare Militia units.
"cyber operators".. "Information Warfare Militia".. What?
Try actually reading the linked PDF and see if you can take it seriously. All this stuff about increased "cyber attack incidences" and I can find absolutely nothing explicitly linking any incident with the Chinese government or anything even making explicit what a "cyber attack incident" is. (Also "cyber warfare" is a pretty small part of the report itself; the report isn't about "cyber-warfare", but US-China relations.)
cyber-space (the electro-magnetic spectrum)
I think that quote just about sums it up. I am stunned that people here on slashdot are taking this seriously, this is the sort of thing I'd expect to see on Fox News.
// MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
Cyber attacks on US as a news topic jumped the shark in 2009
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
You seem to overestimate wise thinking when it comes to military and wars. Even Russians had a system that would launch nuclear weapons by a single push of a button if connectivity to Moscow was lost (so that even if nuclear weapon was dropped to Moscow, Russia could still hit back - but of course nothing can go wrong by allowing launch of your nuclear weapons when connectivity is lost!)
Truly, as long as people hide behind anonymity when moderating, no one can take the scoring seriously. It damages Slashdot.
Not everything is just a technical glitch. Some roots go much deeper. Just because you do not understand it, or do not agree with it, it doesn't make it trolling.
End anonymous moderation and posting on
You are simply the result of the many worms working its way through the net. All Western DOD's are under attack and are actively targeted.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
The attempts at espionage are also increasing rapidly. China is now paying 10's of millions for military secrets. They use to use only Chinese nationals that were here, but we have seen that none Asians are being approached with large cash amounts. Some in the field think that China is several times higher than what USSR ever was.
So you think killing thousands of citizens is an "ideal scenario"?
I work in IT support for the military, so if you read any further I will have to kill you.
A few years ago I was stationed on a large warship.
Now, you might expect IT security on the shipwide control system to be pretty tight, and indeed the firewalls to prevent external attacks are very secure (you don't really want some geek with a wireless laptop hacking in and controlling the ship lol), but if someone can actually get onto the ship, there are network ports all over which they can plug into and gain access to the whole control path.
One time when the ship pulled in a small vessel which was suspected of smuggling, the shit-for-brains marines failed to search it properly and a handful of ne'erdowells then sneaked aboard, plugged into the network, and proceded to arse around inside it. As well as mucking about with the data on the brig, thay also managed to blow a fuse on the waste control circuits, which meant I had to take a trip out all the way to home base to get a replacement RX35 switch from central stores.
As it turns out this was quite a lucky break, because while I was away this same bunch of chancers blew the whole ship up by firing some proton torpedos down the main reactor exhaust pipe.
Phew!
[Stolen from Here]
Neither! This data is statistically useless -- what we need to know is how many attacks occurred in the first half of 2008, otherwise the comparison is completely useless. Look at it this way: what if (due to some outside factor) the vast majority of cyber attacks occur in the first half of the year? We know nothing about the distribution of attacks over time, and so we can draw no conclusions from this report!
I hate it when people misuse statistics...
Does this really tell me anything? Not really? What kind of "cyber attacks" are that? SSH break-in attempts? Bots looking for known holes? Script kiddies? Mail relay attempts? Or targeted attempts specifically designed to get access to their system? If I go for the script kiddie/SSH category I get around 25.000 attempts a year on one server alone, according to ossec.
This could also just mean that the number of attacks has risen generally and not specifically against the DoD.
So many unanswered questions ...
If I remember correctly this is what Clifford Stoll did back in the 80s. Nothing new here.
start>run>cmd
C:\Users\User>ping defense.gov -t
An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
cyber attacks of mass destruction ? Sorry, but this sounds toi familiar. Somebody get the pentagon a frickin firewall and a new AUP.
boycott slashdot February 10th - 17th check out: altSlashdot.org
What a fascinating adolescent fantasy you've just pulled out of your ass. It's the kind of thing the DoD might come up with if all their security protocols were based on what they'd learned from playing Command and Conquer fucking Generals... what are you, 12?
that happens because chinese goberment has censored, the porn pages on chine so people are really bored and so they have very much free time .... ("Im bored .... idea! I'll became a hacker!!! yeah!)
OP wasn't talking about the launch systems, he was talking about the controllers in the warheads themselves -- causing the warheads to melt themselves down (which I'm reasonably sure isn't something they're designed to do under any circumstances) rather than a missile launch. I spent long enough in uniform to know that military intelligence is an oxymoron and all that, but that's not the kind of stupidity militaries go in for.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
... why are we not doing anything real about it to stop them? why do we permit these attacks?
Let me guess... tit for tat. The whole world is full of lies and deception. It doesn't talk about us doing it to China, but how is that not obvious?
Everyone who modded this "Interesting", please obtain a clue about missiles, launch systems, and warheads.
This is a geek forum, not 4chan.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
"Now, with a broken economy, we appear weak, and we invite ridicule and attack. Clever bandaids added to firewalls will make little difference long term. We need to regain strength and respect. This is not just a technical problem. Our recent administrations (Republicrats and Demopublican alike) through suicidal short-sighted policies aimed only to benefit a few fat cats have made us an easy target. Such is the fate of a fallen giant. Everyone wants to kick him. After all, what are we going to do about it? - by hwyhobo (1420503) on Saturday November 21, @02:25AM (#30182594)
"What are we going to do about it?"... OK, here goes:
This is what I decided to do about it in the URL below (which was spread around the information on how to stop such attacks, albeit, MOSTLY for the "end/home user" types, because imo @ experience, they're the ones most likely to get "victimized" by botnets &/or worms, which get used in said attacks on this nation, & yes, other nations too (& network engineers/techs/admins?? They KNOW most of this stuff, so it's NOT "geared to them", but rather the folks that do NOT know this stuff, to help them not get "used or abused" by such machinations online, today):
HOW TO SECURE Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003/VISTA/Windows Server 2008/Windows 7, via CIS Tool Guidance (& beyond):
----
http://www.tcmagazine.com/forums/index.php?s=103a842315186ac9fda403081a79b7d8&showtopic=2662
----
And, it works... how well, or some testimonial proof thereof?? Ok:
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http://www.xtremepccentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28430&page=3
People such as THRONKA @ XtremePCCentral.com here stated, verbatim by he:
"Its 2009 - still trouble free! I was told last week by a co worker who does active directory administration, and he said I was doing overkill. I told him yes, but I just eliminated the half life in windows that you usually get. He said good point. So from 2008 till 2009. No speed decreases, its been to a lan party, moved around in a move, and it still NEVER has had the OS reinstalled besides the fact I imaged the drive over in 2008. Great stuff!"
----
This is the best I can do, & hopefully, it "gets around" (&, not just to U.S. Citizenry, but to EVERYONE who uses the internet (because I think it's the "8th wonder of the world" & because I think that we're on the verge of really truly GREAT THINGS))!
(Great things, such as the ion drive, as 1 example thereof only)
I feel that way, especially IF we don't "blow ourselves up" in say, a stupid war or if we manufacture some deadly disease & screw up that way, or even with a meteor/asteroid hitting us (not much control over that though)...
One BIG part of that? The internet, & spots like this one online!
The internet's the gateway & means to exchange such information, so we can progress, based on the information exchanges it allows & yields... so, it's worth protecting!
(AND, for everyone, not just U.S. Citizenry only... imo @ least! I say that, simply because of that line of reasoning I am putting out & that the internet is made up of people from EVERYWHERE exchanging ideas, & that guide's the very best I can do/am capable of, so that hopefully happens & keeps running smoothly, instead of becoming a warzone of "zombied/enslaved" systems making war on one another & tying the damned internet in knots because of the misguided freaks + criminals who create such machinations)
That guide functions very well with great results such as those above noted in testimonial via quote excerpt of such said results, successfully thusfar to the tune of over 250,000++ views over a 1.5 yr. timeframe (& originated in 1997-2002 as "Article #1" @ NTCompatible.com, & other sit
I get 43,000 Chinese hack attempts on my DSL connection *DAILY*.
I calculated the bandwidth used to be about 650KB per day
or about 20MB per month. Multiply that by a conservative
estimate of 20 million DSL subscribers, which are all receiving
the same Chinese hack attempts, and you get 400TB per month,
or about 5 petabytes per year, just on the AT&T DSL network.
Are TPTB going to block those yellow bellies in the BGP?
No, they won't because then the Homeland Security Cyber-Hysteria
Team would be unemployed and unable to pay their mortgages.
Best regards,
The NSA