International Hackers...&

October 2007

International hackers going after U.S. networks. About 140 foreign intelligence organizations are trying to hack into the computer networks of the U.S. government and U.S. companies, a top counterintelligence official said. The national counterintelligence executive told CNN it is not accurate to blame only the Chinese government for recent penetrations of government computer systems. Because it is easy for hackers to disguise where an attack originates, he said, the best course of action is to tighten up one’s own networks rather than to place blame. The nation’s electronic systems are too easy to hack, and the number of world-class hackers is “multiplying at bewildering speed,” he said. That, he said, has transformed the nature of counterintelligence: “If you can exfiltrate massive amounts of information electronically from the comfort of your own office on another continent, why incur the expense and risk of running a traditional espionage operation?” He also warned that hackers could create chaos by manipulating information in electronic systems the government, military and private industry rely on. “Our water and sewer systems, electricity grids, financial markets, payroll systems, air and ground traffic control systems ... are all electronically controlled, electronically dependent, and subject to sophisticated attacks by both state-sponsored and freelance terrorists,” he said. The government must develop a better system for warning the private sector and universities about attacks, he said, and some laws might need to change: “We’ve got to rethink the adequacy of our legal authorities to deal with the cyber thieves and the vandals who I call the Barbary pirates of the 21st century.”