@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Date: Thu, 21 Dec 1995 From: •••@••.••• (Information Warfare Mailing List) Subject: Re: Naval Battleship takeover - I don't think so. (Long, RISKS-17.55) I thought RISKS readers might be interested in this moderator's note from the IW mailing list, responding to the earlier message in RISKS-17.55. Moderator's Note: Subject: Navy hacked by Air Force I talked to some people I know about the purported IW attack on a battleship by the Air Force, and I thought I would help debunk this story, which my contacts tell me is "wildly inaccurate", but looking at a few facts. Let's start with the title: > War of the microchips: the day a hacker seized control of a US battleship No!!! There are NO active US battleships!!! And there weren't any last September. ... > BY SIMPLY dialing the Internet and entering some well-judged keystrokes, > a young US air force captain opened a potentially devastating new era in > warfare in a secret experiment conducted late last September. His > target was no less than gaining unauthorised control of the US Navy's > Atlantic Fleet. According to my sources this was not "SIMPLY dialing the Internet and entering some well-judged keystrokes". It was a controlled experiment with participation of both Navy and Air Force, and involved a great deal of planning by a large number of people. It was performed using DoD owned and properly keyed cryptographic devices designed to be allowed to communicate with the systems being attacked. > He was armed with nothing other than a shop-bought computer and modem. > He had no special insider knowledge but was known to be a computer > whizzkid, just like the people the Pentagon most want to keep out. 100% wrong - he was an insider, he had a great deal of assistance, he had cryptographic devices and keys, and he had special insider knowledge. If he was a Navy captain, he could not have been all that young. Whizzkids are usually considered teenagers. Anyone know of any teenaged Navy captains? > A few clicks and whirrs were the only signs of activity. And then a > seemingly simple e-mail message entered the target ship's computer > system. ... > targeted ships surrendered control as the codes buried in the e-mail > message multiplied inside the ships' computers. A whole naval battle > group was, in effect, being run down a phone-line. Fortunately, this Not quite. This was not an e-mail sent from some Internet site and e-mail messages did not multiply inside the ships' computers. Furthermore, the total bandwidth of a phone line is nowhere near enough to "run" a naval battle group, or probably even a naval kitchen for that matter. > The exact method of entry remains a classified secret. The first really true part of the story. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Richard K. Moore (•••@••.•••) Wexford, Ireland •••@••.••• | Cyberlib=http://www.internet-eireann.ie/cyberlib ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
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