Networking

By Dennis M. Blank

Special to GCN (Goverment Computer News)

A successful hacker attack against the banking and financial system could cripple the United States within three days, an FBI official warned this week.

"We cannot afford to let our dependence on automation become our Achilles heel," said Alan B. Carroll, who supervises the analysis and warning component at the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center. ?Our challenge is to button up the holes in our critical infrastructure, and believe me, there are holes."

By William Jackson

GCN Staff

JAN. 23- A hacker group with a penchant for defacing .gov and .mil Web sites, was back at work last week, attacking 26 national and state government sites, including two U.S. government sites.

In a poorly spelled message, the group, PentaGuard, made the hyperbolic claim that the attack was ?the largest mass defacement in the history of mankind.? They said the sites are ?totally unusefull? and ?Who needs them anyway?? PentaGuard also posted a series of personal messages.

According to this article a hacker has obtained top secret space codes that could yield access to guiding ships, rockets and satellites. Why launch your own spy satellite when you can just borrow ours?" The funny thing is that the code was stolen only a couple of days after it was deployed. This is just as sucky as the fact that my house got broken into while I was away in France... I hate thieves.

Saw this over at SNN

Saw this over at SNN

Saw this over at SNN

Saw this over at SNN

The importance of data protection, both physical and virtual, is gaining momentum as the discussion of merging the two forces heats up. This type of movement, like most, has its supporters and detractors. According to the Computerworld article below, Bill Neimuth, the director of e-business security at Kimberly-Clark Corp's bottom line is "loss mitigation, and I don't care if it's run by the physical side or the IT side."

Saw this over at SNN

China's Ministry of Public Security has issued a new software product called Internet Police 110 in an effort to "purify China's Internet Service." The filtering product has three versions that have been modified for households, Internet cafes and schools.

Reuters via Excite

Saw this over at SNN

Saw this over at SNN

In a far too common occurrence these days, the names and social security numbers of 3000 students from Indiana University were obtained during an infiltration of the school's servers. Someone from outside the United States reportedly performed the break-in, utilizing a security hole left open to get in. Those affected by the breach were mostly alumni of IU.

Chicago Tribune