11 -9 on the network

The network security industry in the United States has experienced a severe shock. Recently, the Command of the Naval Network Defense Campaign (NCDOC) revealed: in November 2006, foreign hackers had infiltrated the network of the Naval School (NWC), research and distribution center. US Navy strategy in Rhode Island.

The attack numbed the NWC network and could not connect to the Internet for weeks.

NCDOC is more likely to confirm that the hackers carried out the attack to steal information about the planned naval exercises conducted by NWC. Hackers use 'spear phishing' techniques: sending emails that seem to originate from the NWC to school personnel to get passwords to access confidential information. In addition, they use more traditional methods such as viruses and network worms, but the level is much more complex.

According to the SANs Network Security Academy, the NWC network was hacked because the school was not equipped with the state-of-the-art online defense system. The attack once again showed the fragility in the US network security system, because this is not the first time a government agency is the target of foreign hackers. In 2003, a series of organized attacks targeted the US Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA), Sandia National Laboratory (research center of the Department of Energy), Redstone Arsenal (a military base). the Army) and Lockhead Martin (the world's largest military contractor). This event was named for 'Titan Rain' by the US government, and was officially announced in August 2005.

According to the US Department of Defense, the 'Titan Rain' group, consisting of about 20 hackers, could operate in Guangdong (China). The group took away some US military secrets, such as information about military helicopter operation planning systems and air and army flight control software. So far, this group is still active. However, the US Navy has not yet determined whether 'Titan Rain' is the author of the recent attack. Investigation shows that hackers may enter NWC also from China.

The US Department of Defense itself, which runs more than 5 million computers worldwide, is also a favorite target for hackers. In 2004, there were more than 79,000 attacks on US government agencies. In it, hackers had more than 1,300 times invaded a Pentagon computer. Experts identify with the problems that US cyber security is facing, quite likely an 11-9 Internet incident will occur.

According to the Global Risk Network (CCR), the US government needs to make a policy that outlines the tasks of public agencies and the private sector to prevent cyberattacks. At the same time, agencies responsible for 'attacks' online such as the National Security Agency (NSA) need to work closely with 'defense' organizations such as the Naval Cyber ​​Command (NNWC). .

Hieu Trung