| ==Phrack Inc.== |
|
|
| Volume Four, Issue Thirty-Eight, File 15 of 15 |
|
|
| PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN |
| PWN PWN |
| PWN Phrack World News PWN |
| PWN PWN |
| PWN Issue XXXVIII / Part Three of Three PWN |
| PWN PWN |
| PWN Compiled by Dispater & Friends PWN |
| PWN PWN |
| PWN Special Thanks to Datastream Cowboy PWN |
| PWN PWN |
| PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN |
|
|
|
|
| CFP-2: Sterling Speaks For "The Unspeakable" March 25, 1992 |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| By Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen (Newsbytes) |
|
|
| WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Bruce Sterling, the prime luncheon speaker at the 2nd |
| Annual Conference On Computers Freedom & Privacy (CFP-2), fulfilled his program |
| billing as "Speaking for the Unspeakable" by taking on three separate persona |
| and delivering what might have been their messages. |
|
|
| Sterling, best known as a science fiction writer, spoke for three characters, a |
| "a malicious hacker," a Latin American police official, and a Hong Kong |
| businessman, who were, in his words, "too venal, violent, treacherous, power- |
| mad, suspicious, or meanspirited to receive (or accept) an invitation to |
| attend." |
|
|
| Sterling began his speech by introducing himself and then saying, "When the CFP |
| committee asked me if I might recommend someone to speak here at CFP-2, I had |
| an immediate candidate. I thought it would be great if we could all hear from |
| a guy who's been known as Sergei. Sergei was the KGB agent runner for the |
| Chaos Computer Club group who broke into Cliff Stoll's computer in the famous |
| Cuckoo's Egg case. Now Sergei is described as a stocky bearded Russian |
| espionage professional in his mid-40s. He's married, has kids and his hobby |
| is fishing, in more senses than one, apparently. Sergei used to operate out of |
| East Berlin, and, as far as I personally know, Sergei's operation was the |
| world's first and only actual no-kidding, real-life case of international |
| computer espionage. So I figured -- why not send Yelsin a fax and offer Sergei |
| some hard currency; things are pretty lean over at KGB First Directorate these |
| days. CFP could have flown this guy in from Moscow on a travel scholarship and |
| I'm sure that a speech from Sergei would be far more interesting than anything |
| I'm likely to offer here. My proposal wasn't taken up and instead I was asked |
| to speak here myself. Too bad! |
|
|
| "This struck me as rather a bad precedent for CFP which has struggled hard to |
| maintain a broad universality of taste. Whereas you're apparently willing to |
| tolerate science fiction writers, but already certain members of the computer |
| community, KGB agents, are being quietly placed beyond the pale. But you know, |
| ladies and gentlemen, just because you ignore someone doesn't mean that person |
| ceases to exist -- and you've not converted someone's beliefs merely because |
| you won't listen. But instead of Comrade Sergei, here I am -- and I am a |
| science fiction writer and, because of that, I rejoice in a complete lack of |
| any kind of creditability! |
|
|
| "Today I hope to make the best of that anomalous position. Like other kinds of |
| court jesters, science fiction writers are sometimes allowed to speak certain |
| kinds of unspeakable truth, if only an apparent parody or metaphor. So today, |
| ladies and gentlemen, I will exercise my inalienable civil rights as a science |
| fiction writer to speak up on behalf of the excluded and the incredible. In |
| fact, I plan to abuse my talents as a writer of fiction to actually recreate |
| some of these excluded, incredible unspeakable people for you and to have them |
| address you today. I want these people, three of them, to each briefly address |
| this group just as if they were legitimately invited here and just as if they |
| could truly speak their mind right here in public without being arrested." |
|
|
| Sterling then went on to assure the crowd that he was not speaking his personal |
| conviction, only those of his characters, and warned the group that some of the |
| material might be offensive. He then launched into the delivery of his |
| characters' speeches -- speeches which had the hacker talking about real damage |
| -- "the derailing of trains"; the Latin police official, a friend and admirer |
| of Noriega, discussing the proper way of dealing with hackers; and the |
| businessman explaining way, in the age of high speed copiers, laser printers |
| and diskette copying devices, the US copyright laws are irrelevant. |
|
|
| Often intercepted by laughter and applause, Sterling received a standing |
| ovation at the conclusion of the speech. Computer Press Association newsletter |
| editor Barbara McMullen was overhead telling Sterling that he had replaced |
| "Alan Kay as her favorite luncheon speaker," while conference chair Lance |
| Hoffman, who had received an advance copy of the speech a few weeks before, |
| described the speech as "incredible and tremendous". |
|
|
| Sterling, relaxing after the talk with a glass of Jack Daniels, told Newsbytes |
| that the speech had been fun but a strain, adding, "Next time they'll really |
| have to get Sergei. I'm going back to fiction." |
|
|
| Sterling's non-fiction work on computer crime, "The Hacker Crackdown" is due |
| out from Bantam in the fall and an audio tape of the CFP-2 speech is available |
| >from Audio Archives. He is the author of "Islands In The Net" and is the co- |
| author, with William Gibson, of the presently best-selling "The Difference |
| Engine." |
|
|
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
|
|
| The Bruce Sterling luncheon video tape is now available, sizzling, and |
| affordable to the Phrack readers. |
|
|
| $19.95 + $4 (shipping and handling) |
|
|
| Call now: (800)235-4922 |
| or |
| CFP Video Library Project |
| P.O. Box 912 |
| Topanga, CA 90290 |
|
|
| Tell them you heard about it from The WELL and you'll get the above price. |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| CFP-2 Features Role-Playing FBI Scenario March 25, 1992 |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| By Barbara E. McMullen (Newsbytes) |
|
|
| WASHINGTON, D.C.-- As part of the "Birds-of-a-Feather" (BOF) sessions featured |
| at the 2nd Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy (CFP-2), FBI Agent J. |
| Michael Gibbons, acting as a live gamemaster, orchestrated the play-acting of |
| an investigation by federal agents into allegations of computer intrusion and |
| criminal activity. |
|
|
| The scenario, set up by Gibbons to show the difficulties faced by investigators |
| in balancing the conducting of an investigation with a protection of the rights |
| of the individual under investigation, was acted out with non-law enforcement |
| officials cast in the role of investigators; New York State Police Senior |
| Investigator Donald Delaney as "Doctor Doom," the suspected ringleader of the |
| computer criminals; Newsbytes New York Bureau Chief John McMullen as a |
| magistrate responsible for considering the investigators' request for a search |
| warrant; and author Bruce Sterling as a neighbor and possible cohort of Doctor |
| Doom. |
|
|
| Gibbons, in his role of Gamemaster, regularly intercepted the action to involve |
| the audience in a discussion of what the appropriate next step in the scenario |
| would be -- "Do you visit the suspect or get a search warrant or visit his |
| school or employer to obtain more information? Do you take books in the search |
| and seizure? Printers? Monitors? etc." During the discussion with the |
| audience, points of law were clarified by Mike Godwin, Electronic Frontier |
| Foundation in-house counsel, and Alameda County Assistant District Attorney |
| Donald Ingraham. |
|
|
| The role-playing session immediately followed a BOF panel, "Hackers: Why Don't |
| They Understand" which attempted to present a hacker view of on-line ethics. |
| The panel, moderated by McMullen, was composed of Steven Levy, MacWorld |
| columnist and author of "Hackers"; Dorothy Denning, Chair of Computer Science |
| at Georgetown University; Glenn Tenney, California Congressional candidate and |
| chair of the annual "Hacker's Conference"; Craig Neidorf, defendant in a |
| controversial case involving the electronic publishing of a stolen document; |
| "Dispater," the publisher of the electronic publication "Phrack"; Emmanuel |
| Goldstein, editor and publisher of "2600: The Hacker Quarterly," and hacker |
| "Phiber Optik." |
|
|
| During the panel discussion, Levy, Denning and Tenney discussed the roots of |
| the activities that we now refer to as hacking, Goldstein and Dispater |
| described what they understood as hacking and asked for an end to what they see |
| as overreaction by the law enforcement community, Neidorf discussed the case |
| which, although dropped by the government, has left him over $50,000 in debt; |
| and Phiber Optik described the details of two searches and seizures of his |
| computer equipment and his 1991 arrest by Delaney. |
|
|
| In Neidorf's talk, he called attention to the methods used in valuing the |
| stolen document that he published as $78,000. He said that it came out after |
| the trial that the $78,000 included the full value of the laser printer on |
| which it was printed, the cost of the word processing system used in its |
| production and the cost of the workstation on which it was entered. Neidorf's |
| claims were substantiated by EFF counsel Godwin, whose filing of a motion in |
| the Steve Jackson cases caused the release of papers including the one referred |
| to by Neidorf. Godwin also pointed out that it was the disclosure by |
| interested party John Nagle that the document, valued at $78,000, was |
| obtainable in a book priced at under $20.00 that led to the dropping of the |
| charges by the US Attorney's office. |
|
|
| SRI security consultant Donn Parker, one of the many in the audience to |
| participate, admonished Phiber and other hackers to use their demonstrated |
| talents constructively and to complete an education that will prepare them for |
| employment in the computer industry. Another audience member, Charles Conn, |
| described his feeling of exhilaration when, as a 12-year old, he "hacked" into |
| a computer at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken. Conn said "It was wonderful. It |
| was like a drug. I just wanted to explore more and more." |
|
|
| Parker later told Newsbytes that he thought that it was a mistake to put |
| hackers such as Phiber Optik and those like Craig Neidorf who glorify hackers |
| on a panel. Parker said, "Putting them on a panel glorifies them to other |
| hackers and makes the problem worse." |
|
|
| The Birds-of-a-Feather sessions were designed to provide an opportunity for |
| discussions of topics that were not a part of the formal CFP-2 program. |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| Computer Revenge A Growing Threat March 9, 1992 |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| By Tom Steinert-Threlkeld (Dallas Morning News) |
| Article in the Chicago Tribune, Page C3 |
|
|
| The "downsizing" of corporate America is not only making companies lean and |
| mean. |
|
|
| It's doing the same thing to employees losing their jobs, said Thomas F. Ellis, |
| a partner in Arthur Andersen & Co.'s Computer Risk Management Services. |
|
|
| He looks at the latest form of revenge by employee against former employer. |
| Fraud, embezzlement and theft of secrets are no longer the only forms of |
| frustrated payback. The calling card in the digital age is computer sabotage. |
|
|
| It's an invisible epidemic that corporations don't like to talk about while |
| they're trying to convince banks and creditors they are becoming more efficient |
| by downsizing, said Ellis and William Hugh Murray, information systems security |
| consultant to Deloitte & Touche, another of the Big Six accounting firms. |
|
|
| "A lot of the business trends in the U.S. are really threatening data |
| security," said Sanford M. Sherizen, a Natick, Massachusetts computer security |
| consultant. "Corporations are paying a huge price for it," without disclosing |
| it. |
|
|
| The downsizing has led to inadequate attention to security precautions, argues |
| Sherizen. The underlying trend: Fewer and fewer people are being given more |
| and more responsibility for information systems. |
|
|
| That breeds opportunity for revenge, said Sherizen. No longer does only the |
| supposedly misfit hacker, gulping down Cokes and Fritos in the middle of the |
| night, merit watching. Sherizen's worldwide set of clients have found that the |
| middle manager wearing the white shirt and tie in the middle of the day also |
| deserves scrutiny, he says. |
|
|
| Those managers, if mistreated, find it inviting to strike back creatively. The |
| VTOC, for example. |
|
|
| This is jargon for the Volume Table of Contents. This is a directory a |
| computer compiles to keep track of where programs and data are stored. A large |
| Andersen client was paralyzed recently when a VTOC in its information system |
| was scrambled by a downsizing victim, Ellis said. |
|
|
| "If you destroy the VTOC in a mainframe system, then you destroy the computer's |
| ability to go out and find programs and data, so you can pretty effectively |
| devastate a computer installation by destroying the VTOC, without ever touching |
| the programs and data," he said. |
|
|
| But those bent on revenge are not above leaving time bombs in computer systems |
| that will go off after their departure, destroying programs and data. |
|
|
| They also are appropriating information from magnetic memories and selling it |
| at hefty prices in the burgeoning field known euphemistically as "commercial |
| business intelligence," said Sherizen. |
|
|
| Most companies hush up these cases, because they fear copycat avengers will |
| strike when their vulnerability is exposed. They also don't like to be |
| publicly embarrassed, the security experts say. |
|
|
| Technical safeguards don't hold a candle to human safeguards, said Murray. |
|
|
| The best way to protect against sabotage is to prevent disaffection in the |
| first place. Treat as well as possible those who are being fired. Compensate |
| fairly those who are staying. |
|
|
| Show appreciation, day in and day out. Most revenge is slow to boil and comes |
| >from employees who finally conclude that their contributions are going |
| unrecognized, said Murray. |
|
|
| "Saying 'please' and 'thank you' are an incredibly important control" against |
| sabotage, he said. |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| Computer Crime Problem Highlighted March 9, 1992 |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| By Oscar Rojo (Toronto Star)(Page B3) |
|
|
| With the growing corporate dependence on computers, "information crimes" have |
| become easier to commit but harder to detect, says a Toronto-based security |
| company. |
|
|
| "Electronic intrusion is probably the most serious threat to companies that |
| rely on computerized information systems," Intercon Security Ltd. says in its |
| Allpoints publication. |
|
|
| Allpoints cited a study of 900 businesses and law enforcement agencies in |
| Florida showing that one of four businesses had been the victim of some form of |
| computer crime. |
|
|
| "While most of the media attention has focused on "hackers," individuals who |
| deliberately and maliciously try to disrupt business and government systems, |
| one estimate indicates that 75 per cent plus of electronic intrusion crimes may |
| be "insider attacks" by disgruntled employees," the publication said. |
|
|
| In Intercon's experience, vice-president Richard Chenoweth said the company is |
| as likely to find a corporate crime committed by a disgruntled employee as one |
| perpetrated by an outsider. |
|
|
| Intercon said the technology exists to guard against most electronic |
| intrusions. "The problem is that many information managers still don't believe |
| there is a risk, so they are not making the best possible use of what is |
| available." |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| Criminals Move Into Cyberspace April 3, 1992 |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| By Mick Hurrell (The Times)(Features Section) |
|
|
| The hacker and the virus programmer embodied the popular notion of computer |
| crime in the 1980s, and they are still the most widely known criminal acts in |
| computer technology. |
|
|
| The advent of new technologies over the past decade has created a whole new |
| casebook of serious crimes, but they have yet to gain the notoriety of computer |
| viruses such as Friday 13th or Michelangelo. |
|
|
| More then 3,000 computer crimes around the world in the past 20 years have now |
| been documented by SRI International (SRII), a Californian information security |
| consultancy. They include attempted murder, fraud, theft, sabotage, espionage, |
| extortion, conspiracy and ransom collection. |
|
|
| Against this disturbing background, Donn Parker, SRII's senior international |
| security consultant, is telling businesses they will be under increasing attack |
| >from sophisticated criminals using computer technology and from others intent |
| on causing disruption. |
|
|
| "New technology brings new opportunities for crime," he says. "We must |
| anticipate future types of crime in our security efforts before they become |
| serious problems." |
|
|
| His prospective list ranges from the annoying to the fraudulent, and includes |
| small computer theft, desktop forgery, digital imaging piracy, voice and |
| electronic mail terrorism, fax graffiti attacks, electronic data interchange |
| fraud, and placement of unauthorized equipment in networks. |
|
|
| Some of these crimes are more obvious than others. The advanced digital |
| imaging systems now being used in the television and film industry to create |
| spectacular special effects, for example, could become a new target for crime. |
| As digital imaging can alter video images seamlessly, the possibilities for |
| sophisticated fraud are numerous. |
|
|
| The theft of small computers and components has already increased. "I think |
| it will be worse than the typewriter theft problem of the 1970s and 1980s," Mr. |
| Parker says. "We are now teaching information-security people that they have |
| to learn how to protect small objects of high value. The content of the |
| computers could be more valuable than the hardware itself. |
|
|
| "I do not think the criminal community is yet aware of a computer's value other |
| than on the used equipment market, but ultimately some are going to figure out |
| that the contents the data are more valuable, which could lead to information |
| being used for extortion." |
|
|
| Desktop forgery is another crime that looks certain to boom and plague |
| businesses of all types. Desktop publishing software, combined with the latest |
| color laser printers and photocopiers, is proving an ideal forger's tool. Gone |
| is the dingy cellar with printing plates and press: Forgers can work from |
| comfortable offices or their own homes and produce more accurate fakes than |
| ever before. |
|
|
| Original documents can be fed into a computer using a scanner, then subtly |
| altered before being printed out. Business documents such as purchase orders |
| and invoices are obvious targets for the forgers, as are checks. The quality |
| of a forgery is now limited only by the paper on which it is printed. |
|
|
| Mr. Parker says: "As the technology gets cheaper and more available, this is |
| something that could flourish." |
|
|
| But although many of these new forms of computer crime bring with them the |
| possibility of increased business losses, one threat overshadows them all. "The |
| big security issues are going to involve networks and the connection of |
| computers to many others outside an organization," says Rod Perry, a partner |
| with Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, the consultants. |
|
|
| The fear is that sophisticated criminals will take advantage of a clash between |
| the desire for system flexibility and the constraint necessarily imposed by |
| security. Mr. Perry adds: "The business need is paramount, and people will |
| accept the risk up to a point." |
|
|
| Networks are attractive because they allow information to be easily transferred |
| between users, and give free and easy access to data bases from many locations |
| within an organization that can extend across countries and continents. Making |
| them secure against interference from both outside and within is difficult. |
|
|
| Mr. Parker says: "Today's microcomputers and local and global networks have |
| left information security far behind. We are dealing with what we call |
| cyberspace. We are connecting our networks so that we now have a single |
| worldwide network of data communications. |
|
|
| "We have inadvertently freed the criminal from proximity to the crime. A |
| criminal can be anywhere in the world, enter cyberspace by computer, and commit |
| a crime anywhere else. The criminal is free to choose the jurisdiction area |
| >from which he works, to minimize the punishment if he gets caught." |
|
|
| The great concern, he says, is if technological advances result in an "anarchy |
| of conflicting security efforts. Consistent security practices should be |
| applied uniformly as well as globally. |
|
|
| "When organizations in different countries with different national laws, |
| different ways of valuing information assets, and different national ethical |
| customs, use equipment from different manufacturers in their networks, they |
| face the problem of matching their levels of security. They use the lowest |
| common denominator, which in some instances may be practically non-existent." |
|
|
| Some computer security consultants believe that network security headaches will |
| involve some restriction in how they are used. All agree that passwords no |
| longer offer appropriate forms of security. |
|
|
| Professor Roger Needham, of the University of Cambridge computing laboratory, |
| says: "At the moment, there is a lot of shoddy computer use, but it will |
| become more usual to take security seriously. In the world of doing business |
| with paper, there are a tremendous number of rules of practice and conduct that |
| are second nature; security procedures in the electronic medium will also have |
| to become second nature." |
|
|
| SRII is developing software for what it says will be the world's most |
| sophisticated detection system, designed to identify criminal users as they |
| commit their crime. |
|
|
| Called IDES (Intruder Detection using Expert Systems), it works on the basis |
| that a system intruder is likely to show a different behavior pattern from that |
| of a legitimate user. IDES is programmed with a set of algorithms that build |
| up profiles of how particular employees typically use the system. It can then |
| inform the company's security division if it identifies any significant |
| deviation. |
|
|
| IDES also monitors the whole system for failed log-in attempts and the amount |
| of processor time being used, and compares this with historical averages. |
|
|
| A future refinement will allow the system to profile groups of subjects so that |
| it can tell, for example, when a secretary is not behaving like a "typical" |
| secretary. |
|
|
| Business crime and computer crime will increasingly become one and the same, |
| Mr. Parker says. Security will be increasingly built in to systems and |
| "transparent" to the user. |
|
|
| "I think the overall loss to business from computer crime will decrease," he |
| says. "But the loss per incident will increase because the risks and the |
| potential gains will be greater." |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| PWN QuickNotes |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| 1. New Law Enforcement Bulletin Board (Government Technology, January 1992, |
| Page 17) -- St. Paul, Minnesota -- The International Association of Chiefs |
| of Police (IACP) and LOGIN Information Services has announced IACP NET, a |
| new computer network that will link law enforcement professionals |
| nationwide. The network uses advanced computer capabilities to foster and |
| empower IACP's belief that strength through cooperation is the key to the |
| success of law enforcement endeavors. |
|
|
| Communications services will be the interaction focus. An electronic mail |
| feature allows private messaging among IACP NET members. Exchange of ideas |
| will be encouraged and facilitated through electronic bulletin boards on |
| general subject areas and computer conferencing on specific topics. |
| Anchoring the communications service is the Quest-Response Service, a |
| service created and proven successful by LOGIN that allows members to post |
| and respond to requests for information in a formatted and accessible |
| manner. |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| 2. ATMs Gobble Bankcards In Colorado (Denver Post, February 19, 1992) -- About |
| 1,000 Colorado ATM users had their Visas and Mastercards abruptly terminated |
| in February by an out-of-control computer system. |
|
|
| For 90 minutes during the President's Day weekend, the Rocky Mountain |
| Bankcard System software told ATMS around the state to eat the cards instead |
| of dishing out cash or taking deposits. The "once-in-a-decade" glitch went |
| unnoticed because it occurred as programmers were patching in a correction |
| to a different problem. |
|
|
| The company is rushing new plastic and letters of apology to customers who |
| got terminated. |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| 3. Minister Denies Hackers Tampered With Licence Records (Chris Moncrieff, |
| Press Association, January 27, 1992) -- Allegations that computer experts |
| hacked into the records of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in |
| Swansea are without substance and are to be retracted, Roads and Traffic |
| Minister Christopher Chope said. |
|
|
| He was responding in a Commons-written reply to Donald Anderson (Lab Swansea |
| East), who had asked what investigations had been made following a report |
| that hackers had been able to erase driving convictions from DVLA computer |
| files. Mr. Chope said, "The Agency has discussed the recent allegations |
| about unauthorized access to its computer records with the author of the |
| original Police Review article, who has confirmed that there is no substance |
| to them. "The author has agreed to retract the allegations in his next |
| article." Mr. Anderson commented, "The importance of this reply is that it |
| underlines the integrity of the system of driver-licence records held in |
| Swansea in spite of the allegations." |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| 4. Software Virus Found At INTEL (New York Times News Service, March 3, 1992) |
| -- Intel Corporation said it had stopped shipping a computer network |
| software program because some units were found to be infected with the |
| "Michelangelo" virus, a program that infects IBM and compatible personal |
| computers and can potentially destroy data. |
|
|
| A division of Intel in Hillsboro, Oregon, said it had shipped more than 800 |
| copies of the program, called LANSpool 3.01, which inadvertently contained |
| the virus. The virus is designed to activate on March 6, Michelangelo's |
| birthday, and can erase data and programs if it is not detected with |
| antiviral software. |
|
|
| The company said it had checked its software with a virus-scanning program |
| before shipping it, but that it had failed to detect the virus. |
|
|
| A number of computer makers and software publishers have issued similar |
| alerts about the Michelangelo program and a variety of companies are now |
| offering free software to check for the virus. |
|
|
| There are more than 1,000 known software viruses that can copy themselves |
| from computer to computer by attaching to programs and files. |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| 5. Army Wants Virii (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 1991, Page 5) |
|
|
| "Attention Hackers, Uncle Sam Wants You!" |
|
|
| The U.S. Army has caught the computer virus bug and is now expanding its |
| interest in germ warfare to include electronic germs. |
|
|
| The Army Center for Signal Warfare is soliciting proposals for the |
| development of a "weaponized virus" or a piece of "malicious software" that |
| could destroy an enemy's computers or software (_Technology Review_, October |
| 1991). As project engineer Bob Hein explained, "This is the army. We're in |
| the weapons business." |
|
|
| Hein said the army first became interested in the potential of computer |
| viruses as offensive weapons after Myron Cramer's 1989 article in _Defense |
| Electronics_ suggested that computer viruses offered "a new class of |
| electronic warfare." But Gary Chapman, director of Computer Professionals |
| for Social Responsibility, thinks it is more likely that the army's interest |
| was piqued by a French science fiction novel, _Soft War_, describing army |
| infiltration of Soviet computers. |
|
|
| Chapman, who called that army's plan to design killer computer viruses a |
| "stupid policy," said that any viruses the army comes up with are more |
| likely to paralyze the heavily networked U.S. computer system than to |
| infiltrate enemy computers. |
|
|
| Hein insisted that the army will develop only controllable and predictable |
| bugs that will not threaten U.S. computer users. Chapman pointed out that, |
| like the biological agents they are named for, computer viruses are, by |
| their very nature, uncontrollable. |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| 6. BellSouth's MobilComm and Swiss watchmaker Swatch said they will form joint |
| venture to market wristwatch pager. The watch will cost about $200 and will |
| be sold in department stores. It will bear name of "Piepser," the German |
| word for "beeper," using 4 tones to signal the wearer. Each signal is |
| activated by a telephone number that owner assigns. In the 4th quarter of |
| year, Swatch said it plans to introduce a model that can display telephone |
| numbers. (Source: Communications Daily, March 5, 1992, Page 4) |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| 7. U.S. District Judge Harold Greene denied several new motions by Nynex in a |
| criminal case being brought by the Justice Department, charging the phone |
| company with violating MFJ (Modified Final Judgment) through subsidiary |
| Telco Research. The government also filed a new motion of its own, later |
| denied, requesting Greene to hold a pretrial hearing to look into "actual or |
| potential conflicts of interest" resulting from individuals to be called as |
| witnesses for prosecution being represented by Nynex's law firm, Davis, Polk |
| & Wardwell. DoJ said: "It appears that Davis, Polk represents present and |
| former employes of Nynex in addition to the corporation." Nynex issued a |
| statement saying it's "confident" that the trial would "confirm to our |
| customers," shareholders, and the public that it has fully met its |
| responsibilities under MFJ. Greene, having dismissed Nynex motions, set |
| an April 6 trial date. (Communications Daily, March 24, 1992, Page 5) |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| 8. US West has formed a subsidiary, US West Enhanced Services, that launched |
| its first product, Fax Mail. The subsidiary will develop other products for |
| the enhanced-services market, including voice, fax and data applications, |
| the company said. Test marketing of Fax Mail was conducted in Boise and was |
| product-introduced in Denver. US West described its new product as "voice |
| mail for faxes," in that it stores incoming faxes until the subscriber calls |
| in and instructs the service to print the waiting fax. Each fax mail |
| subscriber is supplied with a personal fax telephone number. When a fax is |
| received, Fax Mail can notify the subscriber automatically by depositing a |
| message in voice mail or beeping a pager. The service costs $19.95 per |
| month, US West said. (Communications Daily, March 24, 1992, Page 6) |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
| 9. Hacker Insurance -- Worried about the integrity of your bank's data network? |
| Relax. Commercial banks and other depository institutions can now obtain up |
| to $50 million in coverage for losses due to computer-related crime. A new |
| policy from Aetna Casualty and Surety Co. offers insurance against computer |
| viruses, software piracy, and toll-call fraud, among other high-tech rip- |
| offs. The Hartford, Connecticut insurer will also cover liabilities due to |
| service bureau and communications failures with Aetna Coverage for Computer |
| and Electronic Network Technology. Paul A. Healy, VP of Aetna's fidelity |
| bond unit, says "the policy will help institutions manage the risk |
| associated with the changing technology." (Information Week, March 30, |
| 1992, Page 16) |
| _______________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
|