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State Department Computers Have Anomalies
David Utter
Staff Writer
2006-07-12
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Attacks against computers in the headquarters of the US State Department, and its offices that deal with China and North Korea, took place on a large scale in June.
There are "anomalies" in the State Department's computer network. An AP report on a massive number of computer attacks said the intruders stole information and passwords, and left behind backdoors so they could return at will to those unclassified systems.
"Anomalies" is how the State Department described those problems, according to a Reuters story:
"While our investigation continues, there is no indication that any sensitive U.S. government information was compromised," (State Department spokesperson Nancy) Beck said.
"The department detected anomalies in network traffic and we felt it prudent to take measures to ensure our system's integrity," she said.
"We take each and every potential threat very seriously. Cyber-security contingency plans were in place and we activated them immediately."
Anomalies.
No one is talking, on the record anyway, about just how long those anomalies were in place before someone activated those contingency plans. No one is pointing fingers at the elephant in the room either.
The Pentagon did, in 2005, saying the Chinese military has been training units in electronic warfare. Security specialists in Great Britain have made similar claims, noting that an extensive attack against business and government electronic interests emanated from China.
Maybe World War III has begun, and no one knows it because the enemy is wielding Metasploit instead of an assault rifle. If an undetected large-scale assault against a significant government agency can be chalked up as an anomaly, what will they call a broader, more damaging attack?
And more importantly, will they call out the attackers by name? The problem is, we may never know.
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Tag: State Department
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About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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