[SCADASEC] Welcome to Cyberwar Country, USA

Mon Feb 11 11:52:17 CST 2008

>> The news is everywhere. When Russian hackers were blamed for a wave of 
>> denial-of-service attacks against Estonian websites last spring, 
>> President Bush voiced concern that the United States would face the
>> same risk.

Howdy,

I believe the Estonian cyber attack was not Russian intelligence but:

> Remember the "cyberwar" in Estonia last year? When asked about it, I
> generally say that it's unclear that it wasn't just kids playing
> politics.
> 
> The reality is even more mundane:
> 
> ...the attacker convicted today isn't a member of the Russian
> military, nor is he an embittered cyber warrior in Putin's secret
> service. He doesn't even live in Russia. He's an [20-year-old] ethnic
> Russian who lives in Estonia, who was pissed off over that whole
> statue thing.
> 
> The court fined him 17,500 kroons, or $1,620 dollars, and sent him on
> his way.
> 
> So much for all of that hype.

The above right out of Bruce Schneier's blog from 1/28/08

 >> ... A CIA official followed up
>> with a tale about cyber attackers causing multi-city power failures
>> overseas. 

The above reported at SANS in New Orleans was never confirmed.

>> Some in the military believe Chinese cyberspies have
>> already penetrated unclassified Pentagon computers.
>> 

and I'm sure some in the military do or don't believe in UFOs either, 
but where is the proof?

>> Where buzz flows, money follows, and the investment in info-war
>> comes as the Air Force cuts back personnel elsewhere to fund new
>> aircraft:

I guess he equates fuzz with FUD.

Regards,
Kevin
--
Kevin M. McGrath, CISSP, TCSP-P
Lead Analyst | US-Gas Management System (GMS)
Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) | National Grid
Office: (718)403-2910 | Cell: (917)939-8569 Nextel 172*86*2119
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Bob Radvanovsky wrote:
> ** MODERATOR'S NOTE:  Interesting article from our friend over at
> Wired...
> 
>> http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2008/02/cyber_command
>> 
>> By Marty Graham Wired.com 02.11.08
>> 
>> BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, Louisiana -- When a reporter enters the
>> Air Force office of William Lord, a smile comes quickly to the
>> two-star general's face as he darts from behind his immaculate desk
>> to shake hands. Then, as an afterthought, he steps back and shuts
>> his laptop as though holstering a sidearm.
>> 
>> Lord, boyish and enthusiastic, is a new kind of Air Force warrior
>> -- the provisional chief of the service's first new major command
>> since the early 1990s, the Cyber Command. With thousands of posts
>> and enough bandwidth to choke a horse, the Cyber Command is
>> dedicated to the proposition that the next war will be fought in
>> the electromagnetic spectrum, and that computers are military
>> weapons. In a windowless building across the base, Lord's cyber
>> warriors are already perched 24 hours a day before banks of
>> monitors, scanning Air Force networks for signs of hostile
>> incursion.
>> 
>> "We have to change the way we think about warriors of the future,"
>> Lord enthuses, raising his jaw while a B-52 traces the sky outside
>> his windows. "So if they can't run three miles with a pack on their
>> backs but they can shut down a SCADA system, we need to have a
>> culture where they fit in."
>> 
>> But before Lord and his geek warriors can settle in for the wars of
>> the future, the general has to survive a battle of a decidedly
>> different nature: a political and cultural tug of war over where
>> the Cyber Command will set up its permanent headquarters. And that,
>> for Lord and the Air Force, is where things get trickier than a
>> Chinese Trojan horse.
>> 
>> With billions of dollars in contracts and millions in local
>> spending on the line, 15 military towns from Hampton, Virginia, to
>> Yuba City, California, are vying to win the Cyber Command, throwing
>> in offers of land, academic and research tie-ins, and, in one case,
>> an $11 million building with a moat. At a time when Cold War-era
>> commands laden with aging aircraft are shriveling, the nascent
>> Cyber Command is universally seen as a future-proof bet for
>> expansion, in an era etched with portents of cyberwar.
>> 
>> 
>> Russian Hackers and Chinese Cyberspies
>> 
>> The news is everywhere. When Russian hackers were blamed for a wave
>> of denial-of-service attacks against Estonian websites last spring,
>>  President Bush voiced concern that the United States would face
>> the same risk. The national intelligence director, Michael
>> McConnell, recently claimed a computer attack against a single U.S.
>> bank could cause more economic harm than 9/11, and called for more
>> National Security Agency surveillance of the internet. A CIA
>> official followed up with a tale about cyber attackers causing
>> multi-city power failures overseas. Some in the military believe
>> Chinese cyberspies have already penetrated unclassified Pentagon
>> computers.
>> 
>> Where buzz flows, money follows, and the investment in info-war
>> comes as the Air Force cuts back personnel elsewhere to fund new
>> aircraft: The service just finished phasing out 20,000 enlisted men
>> and women, with plans to dump 20,000 more by 2011. The effect of
>> military cutbacks on the surrounding communities can be
>> devastating. "If you gain or lose a unit in a place where the
>> military is already a major employer, it has a huge impact," says
>> Chris Erickson, a New Mexico State University professor.
>> 
>> Unofficial estimates say 10,000 military and ancillary jobs could
>> clump around the 500 posts at the Cyber Command's permanent
>> headquarters. The governors of California, New Mexico and Louisiana
>> are pitching their locales directly to the secretary of the Air
>> Force. In December, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal took advantage
>> of a meeting with President Bush on Katrina recovery to lobby for
>> the Cyber Command. A dozen congressional delegations have weighed
>> in as well. Lord is feeling the heat.
>> 
>> "Oh Lord," the general sighs, "there's congressional pressure."
>> 
>> [...]
>> 
> 
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