Thursday, November 20, 2008

Pentagon Hacked, Removable Media Banned: Cyberattack Hits American Military

The memo reads: "Due to the presence of commercial malware, CDR USSTRATCOM has banned the use of removable media (thumb drives, CDRs/DVDRs, floppy disks) on all DoD networks and computers effective immediately."

This is serious, big: and mostly classified at this point. The news broke a few hours ago.

Today's issue with "commercial malware" could be a sort of accident: someone making the wrong assumption about a file they found. Or, it could be much more serious.

And, cyberattacks are nothing new.

Last year, China said they didn't do it. I expect they'll say the same this year.

Previous blogs on cyberattacks: In the news:
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, this is really getting old. Its apparent the IP protocol is not secure, nor is the Microsoft operating system secure. When is the Government, CIOs, Directors, Sys Admins, and the other idiots (that use MS products)going to recognize MS products are a National Security Threat! They have cost millions their identity, the US our financial system, our nations security. The Windows servers at the IMF, World bank, countless banks, businesses, countless individuals.

November 25, 2008 at 11:03 PM
Anonymous said...

The Windows servers at the IMF, World bank, countless banks, businesses, countless individuals...have all been compromised. The data in the Databases is corrupt. There is no way to fix the problems.

November 25, 2008 at 11:09 PM
Brian H. Gill said...

Anoymous of November 25, 2008 11:03 PM, and November 25, 2008 11:09 PM,

I think that the problem may extend beyond the use of Windows products.

11:03 PM, you come close to a valid point when you allude to decision-makers' need to re-evaluate procedures.

Placing the blame at the virtual feet of Windows, however, really doesn't seem all that reasonable.

There are products and procedures available which can deal rather effectively with unwanted intrusions - but they have to be used and implemented.

Finally, 11:09 PM: "There is no way to fix the problems."?!

I have heard and read many 'and we're all gonna die!' predictions, many from experts, over the last half-century.

We didn't.

And, I've learned to be very dubious about assertions that problems cannot be fixed.

December 28, 2008 at 9:55 AM

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Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

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