Yes, I recently subscribed to Netly-L. What of it? Any bets on whether the Sunday Times is going to sue Time for this blatant copyright violation? :-) -rich ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 12:17:41 -0400 From: Noah Robischon <noah@pathfinder.com> Reply-To: netly-l@pathfinder.com To: Multiple recipients of list <netly-l@relay.pathfinder.com> Subject: HACK - Class III Information Warfare, Has It Begun? Well this update from The Sunday Times of London clarifies just how much last week's story was based on rumor. The answer: totally. (Esp. note the quote in paragraph #5). From: http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/Sunday-Times/stinwenws01027.html?12 55993 Secret DTI inquiry into cyberterror THE government has been holding a secret investigation into attacks by "cyber terrorists" on the City of London for more than two years. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Bank of England, GCHQ, the secret listening station, and the Defence Research Agency (DRA) are involved in the inquiry. The existence of the investigation, which began in April 1994, emerged after The Sunday Times revealed last week that banks, broking firms and investment houses had paid millions of pounds to gangs that threaten to wipe out computer systems. Correspondence from the investigating authorities, seen by Insight, include letters from civil servants saying they are "extremely concerned" at the evidence of extortion demands. Yesterday the DTI issued a statement confirming the inquiry and suggesting its work had been hampered by the lack of co-operation from City institutions. "We are very interested in the allegations of extortion directed at City of London institutions which were brought to our attention in 1994. We responded then by involving many government organisations, including the DTI, the police, the Bank of England and other agencies. So far, we have not been presented with any hard evidence from victims.We would urge those threatened to come forward," a spokesman said. In one letter, dated May 1995, David Hendon, director of DTI technical affairs, wrote to a company specialising in computer security work stating that he was taking the City extortion issue "extremely seriously". Insight has since seen the evidence passed to the DTI and GCHQ which sparked the investigation. In 1994, a consultant working for a company which undertakes computer risk assessments for City institutions compiled a table of 46 attacks on banks and finance houses in New York, London and other centres, starting in January 1993. The list included details of raids on three British banks and one American investment house. The documents suggested that operations in the futures markets had been a focus for some of the attacks. Documents sent by the DRA, from the office of Professor David Parks, a senior director, indicate that the agency is especially interested in the "weaponry" deployed by the cyber terrorists. The agency believes high-intensity radio frequency (HIRF) guns may have been used to black out trading positions in City finance houses. The weapon disables a computer by firing electromagnetic radiation at it and is a "black programme" at the defence ministry, one of the highest security classification levels. Last December, Parks approached a company which specialises in defensive measures against information warfare and carries out work for GCHQ. For a£30,000 fee it was asked to arrange a demonstration of a portable HIRF weapon in Germany. Details of the HIRF weaponry and its use in the City have also been compiled by Computing magazine, which intends to pass them to the DTI and other authorities.