Pentagon hit by huge cyber attack

14 July 2011 Last updated at 23:01 GMT The deputy defence secretary said future cyber attacks could even cause deaths The Pentagon has admitted it suffered a major cyber attack in which thousands of files were taken by foreign hackers.

Deputy Defence Secretary William Lynn said that in a March attack and other breaches, hackers had taken information on "our most sensitive systems".

The admission came as the Pentagon rolled out a strategy for strengthening US cyber capabilities and addressing threats and attacks in cyberspace.

The plan would treat cyberspace in a similar manner to land, air and sea.

"In the 21st Century, bits and bytes can be as threatening as bullets and bombs," Mr Lynn said, unveiling the plan.

In a speech at National Defense University in Washington, Mr Lynn said about 24,000 files containing Pentagon data were stolen from a defence industry computer network in March, marking one of the largest cyber attacks in US history.

Extracting files

He said at least one attack - a previously revealed 2008 penetration of classified computer systems - had come from a foreign intelligence service, and in an interview ahead of the speech said the Pentagon believed the March attack had been perpetrated by a foreign government.

Previous cyber attacks have been blamed on China or Russia.

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Keystrokes originating in one country can impact the other side of the globe in the blink of an eye”

End Quote William Lynn Deputy Defense Secretary "We have a pretty good idea" who did it, he told the Associated Press news agency.

In his speech, he said some of the stolen data was "mundane, like the specifications for small parts of tanks, airplanes, and submarines.

"But a great deal of it concerns our most sensitive systems, including aircraft avionics, surveillance technologies, satellite communications systems, and network security protocols," he said.

Mr Lynn said cyber attacks in the future would not only focus on stealing data but also damaging US defences or even causing deaths.

He added that virtual intruders have previously tried to extract files related to missile tracking systems and the Joint Strike Fighter.

Though nations like China and Russia have been blamed for many previous cyber attacks, the Pentagon fears terrorist groups could eventually strike American computer networks and steal data.

"Keystrokes originating in one country can impact the other side of the globe in the blink of an eye," Mr Lynn said.

'Too aggressive'

He added that information technology has become so important to the US government that it "virtually guarantees that future adversaries will target our dependence on it".

Mr Lynn said the Department of Defense Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace was defensive, countering earlier criticism that the strategy might be too aggressive.

In a release accompanying the new strategy, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said it was "critical to strengthen our cyber capabilities to address the threats we're facing".

The news comes one month after the Pentagon said it was building its own "scale model" of the internet to carry out cyber war games.

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US builds net for cyber war games

17 June 2011 Last updated at 14:07 GMT The US system will be used as a test bed for internet security projects The United States government is building its own "scale model" of the internet to carry out cyber war games.

Several organisations, including the defence company Lockheed Martin, are working on prototypes of the "virtual firing range".

The system will allow researchers to simulate attacks by foreign powers and from hackers based inside the US.

More than $500m (?309m) has been allocated by the Department of Defense to develop "cyber technologies".

The National Cyber Range project is being overseen by the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which was also involved in early network research that led to the internet.

When ready, it will function as a test-bed for defensive and possibly offensive technologies such as network protection systems.

Having a controllable mini-internet would allow researchers to carry-out experiments "in days rather than the weeks it currently takes," Darpa spokesman Eric Mazzacone told the Reuters news agency.

Unlike the real internet, the in-house version could be wiped or reset between tests, explained Mr Mazzacone.

Development of the National Cyber Range is currently in the hands of several organisations, including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Lockheed Martin.

One of their prototypes will be selected to go into operation later in the year.

Act of war

The United States has been gradually increasing funding for internet security-related projects.

US defence secretary Robert Gates said that the country was under almost constant cyber attacks

In 2008, the US military was the subject of a serious cyber attack when part of its network became infected by a worm known as agent.btz.

President Obama, in May 2009, declared the cyber threat to be one of the "most serious" challenges facing the country.

Since then, his government claims to have been the subject of several attempted attacks, originating from overseas.

Lockheed Martin, one of the contractors involved in the National Cyber Range project was itself the subject of a security breach in May 2011.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon said it planned to publish proposals to categorise cyber attacks as acts of war.

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IMF hit by 'major' cyber attack

12 June 2011 Last updated at 01:25 GMT IMF told staff it had detected suspicious file transfers on its networks The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says it has been targeted by a sophisticated cyber attack.

Officials at the fund gave few details but said the attack earlier this year had been "a very major breach" of its systems, the New York Times reports.

Cyber security officials said the hack was designed to install software to create a "digital insider presence".

The IMF, which holds sensitive economic data about many countries, said its operations were fully functional.

The cyber attack took place over several months, and happened before former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested over sexual assault charges.

"I can confirm that we are investigating an incident," said spokesman David Hawley.

"I am not in a position to elaborate further on the extent of the cyber security incident."

The New York Times said IMF staff had been told of the intrusion on Wednesday by e-mail, but that the Fund had not made a public announcement.

The e-mail warned that "suspicious file transfers" had been detected and that an investigation had shown a desktop at the Fund had been "compromised and used to access some Fund systems".

There was "no reason to believe that any personal information was sought for fraud purposes," it said.

High profile breaches

A cyber security expert told Reuters the infiltration had been a targeted attack, which installed software designed to give a nation state a "digital insider presence" at the IMF.

"The code was developed and released for this purpose," said Tom Kellerman, who has worked for the Fund.

Bloomberg quoted an unnamed security expert as saying the hackers were connected to a foreign government; however such attacks are very difficult to trace.

The World Bank said it briefly cut its network connection with the Fund out "an abundance of caution".

"The World Bank Group, like any other large organisation, is increasingly aware of potential threats to the security of our information system and we are constantly working to improve our defences," said spokesman Rich Mills.

The incident is the latest in a string of high profile cyber security breaches.

In April, the Sony Playstation network was shut down after hackers stole the personal data of about 100 million accounts and in May, US defence firm Lockheed Martin said it had come under a significant cyber-attack.

CIA Director Leon Panetta told the US Congress earlier this week that a large-scale cyber attack while would cripples power, finance, security and governmental systems was "a real possibility in today's world".

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