112 lines
6.8 KiB
Plaintext
112 lines
6.8 KiB
Plaintext
Hackers in the News
|
|
HACKERS IN THE NEWS
|
|
|
|
ORLANDO SENTINEL-
|
|
|
|
ORIGINATED FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES.
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
HACKERS USED WEAPONS LAB COMPUTER TO DISTRIBUTE PORN -TITLE
|
|
|
|
"-A NEWSPAPER'S PROBE OF IMPROPER INTERNET LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF
|
|
HARD-CORE GRAPHIC IMAGES.
|
|
|
|
DRAMATICALLY ILLUSTRATING THE SECURITY PROBLEMS POSED BY THE RAPID GROWTH
|
|
OF INTERNET COMPUTER NETWORK, ONE OF THE NATION'S THREE NUCLEAR WEAPONS
|
|
LABS CONFIRMED MONDAY THAT COMPUTER HACKERS WERE USING ITS COMPUTERS TO
|
|
STORE AND DISTRIBUTE HARD-CORE PORNOGRAPHY.
|
|
|
|
EMABARRASED OFFICIALS AT LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY
|
|
IN LIVERMORE, CALIF., WHICH CONDUCT A GREAT DEAL OF CLASSIFIED RESEARCH
|
|
AND HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED SECURITY PROCEDURES, SAID THE INCIDENT WAS AMONG
|
|
THE MOST SERIOUS BREACHES OF COMPUTER SECURITY EVER AT THE LAB EAST OF
|
|
SAN FRANCISO.
|
|
.
|
|
Hackers in the News (24/25)
|
|
THE OFFENDING COMPUTER, WHICH WAS SHUT DOWN AFTER A LOS ANGELES
|
|
TIMES REPORTER INVESTIGATING INTERNET HACKING ALERTED LAB OFFICIALS,
|
|
CONTAINED MORE THAN 1,000 PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES. IT WAS BELIEVED TO BE THE
|
|
LARGEST CACHE OF ILLEGAL HARD-CORE PORNOGRAPHY EVER FOUND ON A COMPUTER
|
|
NETWORK.
|
|
|
|
WHILE HACKERS ONCE DEVOTED THEIR EFFORTS TO DISRUPTING COMPUTER
|
|
SYSTEMS AT LARGE ORGANIZATIONS OR STEALING ELECTRONIC INFORMATION, THEY
|
|
HAVE NOW DEVELOPED WAYS OF SEIZING CONTROL OF INTERNET-LINKED COMPUTERS
|
|
AND USING THEM TO STORE AND DISTRIBUTE PORNOGRAPHY, STOLEN COMPUTER
|
|
SOFTWARE AND OTHER ILLICIT INFORMATION.
|
|
|
|
THE INTERNET, A "NETWORK OF NETWORKS" ORIGINALLY DESIGNED
|
|
TO CONNECT COMPUTERS AT UNIVERSITIES AND GOVERNMENT RESEARCH LABS, HAS
|
|
GROWN DRAMATICALLY IN SIZE AND TECHNICAL SOPHISTICATION IN RECENT YEARS.
|
|
IT IS NOW USED BY MANY BUSINESSES AND INDIVIDUAL COMPUTER USERS, AND IS
|
|
OFTEN VIEWED AS THE PROTOTYPE FOR THE "INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY" OF THE
|
|
FUTURE.
|
|
|
|
BUT THE INTERNET HAS AN UNDERSIDE, WHERE SO CALLED "PIRATES" WITH
|
|
CODE NAMES LIKE "MR. SMUT," "ACIDFLUX," AND "THE COWBOY" TRAFFIC IN
|
|
ILLEGAL OR ILLEGALLY OBTAINED ELECTRONIC INFORMATION. THE STRUCTURE OF
|
|
.
|
|
Hackers in the News (24/47)
|
|
THE INTERNET MEANS THAT SUCH PIRATES CAN CARRY OUT THEIR CRIMES FROM
|
|
ALMOST ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, AND TRACING THEM IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE.
|
|
|
|
THE FBI LATE LAST WEEK CONFIRMED THAT IT WAS INVESTIGATING
|
|
SOFTWARE PIRACY ON THE INTERNET. A TIMES REPORTER DISCOVERED A NUMBER OF
|
|
SITES AT PRESTIGIOUS INSTITUTUIONS THAT WERE BEING USED TO DISTRIBUTE
|
|
STOLEN SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ONE IN THE OFFICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
|
|
CALIFORNIA, BERKELY.
|
|
|
|
PIRATES ALSO HAVE THEIR OWN "CHAT" LINES, A SERIES OF CHANNELS
|
|
WITHIN A SERVICE CALLED THE INTERNET RELAY CHAT. AN ELABORATE PECKING
|
|
ORDER DETERMINES WHO WILL BE ALLOWED TO TAKE PART IN THESE CONVERSATIONS
|
|
- NEWCOMERS CAN OFTEN WANGLE THEIR WAY IN IF THEY HAVE A PARTICULARLY HOT
|
|
PIECE OF SOFTWARE TO OFFER.
|
|
|
|
SANDY MEROLA, DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION AND COMPUTING AT THE
|
|
BERKELY LAB, SIAD THAT THE PIRATE SITE WAS SHUT DOWN LAST WEEK AFTER THE
|
|
TIMES INVESTIGATION REVEALED ITS EXISTENCE. MEROLA SAID THE DEPARTMENT
|
|
OF ENERGY, WHICH OVERSEES LAB OPERATIONS, AS WELL AS THE FBI, HAD BEEN
|
|
NOTIFIED OF THE INCIDENT.
|
|
|
|
AT LAWRENCE LIVERMORE, OFFICIALS SAID MONDAY THAT THEY BELIEVED
|
|
.
|
|
Hackers in the News (24/69)
|
|
AT LEAST ONE MORE LAB EMPLOYEE WAS INVOLVED IN THE PORNOGRAPHY RING,
|
|
ALONG WITH AN UNDETERMINED NUMBER OF OUTSIDE COLLABORATORS. CHUCK COLE,
|
|
DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF COMPUTING AT THE LAB, SAID THAT NEARLY 2,000
|
|
MEGABYTES OF UNAUTHORIZED GRAPHICAL IMAGES HAVE BEEN FOUND IN A LIVERMORE
|
|
COMPUTER, AND HE CONFIRMED THAT THEY WERE PORNOGRAPHIC.
|
|
|
|
THE EMPLOYEE HAS BEEN PLACED ON "INVESTIGATORY LEAVE" AND HIS OR
|
|
HER SECURITY BADGE CONFISCATED WHILE AN INVESTIGATION IS UNDERTAKEN, THE
|
|
LAB SAID. IT IS UNCLEAR WHETHER THE PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES WERE BEING SOLD
|
|
OR HOW MANY PEOPLE HAD GAINED ACCESS TO THEM. THE PICTURES WERE
|
|
SUFFICIENTLY GRAPHIC THAT THEY WOULD LIKELY BE CONSIDERED OBSCENE BY THE
|
|
COURTS, AND THEREFORE TRANSMITTING THEM OVER THE INTERNET WOULD BE ILLEGAL.
|
|
|
|
THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF STORAGE CAPACITY USED IN THE LIVERMORE
|
|
SCHEME SHOWS HOW INTERNET HACKING COULD BE QUITE PROFITABLE.
|
|
|
|
THERE WERE INDICATIONS THAT THE PERSON OPERATING THE PORNOGRAPHY
|
|
DATABASE HAD BECOME AWARE OF POSSIBLE SCRUTINY. ON JUNE 27, A MESSAGE
|
|
LEFT IN A FILE LABELED READ ME!!! SAID, "IT APPEARS THAT NEWS ABOUT THIS
|
|
SITE HAS ESCAPED, IN THE PAST TWO WEEKS, I HAVE HAD 27 UN-AUTHORIZED
|
|
HOSTS ATTEMPT TO ACCESS MY SERVER. THIS DOES NOT GIVE ME A WARM-FUZZY
|
|
FEELING. I WOULD HATE TO HAVE TO SHUT THIS DOWN, BUT I MAY HAVE NO CHOICE."
|
|
.
|
|
Hackers in the News (25/92)
|
|
ONE COMPUTER EXPERT, WHO REQUESTED ANONYMITY, SIAD THAT THERE
|
|
MIGHT BE MORE TO THE INCIDENT THAN MEETS THE EYE. THE EXPERT SUGGESTED
|
|
THAT THE HARD-CORE PORNOGRAPHY MAY BE A COVER FOR AN ULTRA-SOPHISTICATED
|
|
ESPIONAGE PROGRAM, IN WHICH A "SNIFFER" PROGRAM COMBS THROUGH OTHER
|
|
LIVERMORE COMPUTERS, ENCODES THE PASSWORDS AND ACCOUNTS IT FINDS, AND
|
|
THEN HIDES THEM WITHIN THE PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES, PERHAPS LATER TO BE
|
|
DOWNLOADED LATER BY FOREIGN AGENTS.
|
|
|
|
BUT COLE SAID THERE WAS NO POSSIBILITY OF A COMPUTER INTRUDER
|
|
GAINING ACCESS TO CLASSIFIED DATA AT LIVERMORE LABS."
|
|
|
|
|
|
___________________________________
|
|
[Home[1]] [Main[2]] [Prev[3]] [Next[4]]
|