Pentagon warns Fidel Castro could launch cyberattack against U.S.

[Declan McCullagh]

----- Forwarded message from Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com> -----

*********
Transcript of hearing:
http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=01/02/08/1638232
1998 transcript:
http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=01/02/08/0526201
*********

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41700,00.html
  
   Feds Say Fidel Is Hacker Threat
   by Declan McCullagh (declan at wired.com)
   2:00 a.m. Feb. 9, 2001 PST
   
   WASHINGTON -- These must be jittery times for anyone in the military
   who uses the Internet.
   
   Not only do they have to guard against Love Bug worms and security
   holes in Microsoft Outlook -- now they've got to worry about Fidel
   Castro hacking into their computers.
   
   Admiral Tom Wilson, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, says the
   74-year-old communist dictator may be preparing a cyberattack against
   the United States.
   
   Wilson told the Senate Intelligence Committee during a public hearing
   Wednesday that Castro's armed forces could initiate an "information
   warfare or computer network attack" that could "disrupt our military."
   
   The panel later went into closed session to discuss classified
   material.
   
   Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked in response: "And you would say that
   there is a real threat that they might go that route?"
   
   Replied Wilson: "There's certainly the potential for them to employ
   those kind of tactics against our modern and superior military."
   
   He said that Cuba's conventional military might was lacking, but its
   intelligence operations were substantial.
   
   The partly classified hearing is an annual event -- and an important
   one: It represents this year's World Threat Assessment discussion.
   That's a chance for the intelligence committee to set its agenda for
   this session of Congress and hear from senior intelligence officials
   about the latest national security threats.
   
   In addition to the aging president of Cuba, witnesses and senators
   both cited encryption as another technology-related threat during a
   far-ranging discussion that also encompassed nuclear, biological and
   chemical weapons.
   
   Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the committee's hawkish chairman, said
   that the classified hearing later in the day would "explore the
   challenges posed by, among others, the proliferation of encryption
   technology, the increasing sophistication of denial and deception
   techniques, the need to modernize and to recapitalize the National
   Security Agency, and other shortfalls in intelligence funding."

   [...]



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