HACK - Class III Information Warfare, Has It Begun? (fwd)

[Rich Graves]

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 at pathfinder.com>
Reply-To: netly-l at pathfinder.com
To: Multiple recipients of list <netly-l at 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.