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Friday, March 24, 2000

Bennett takes on a new threat

He warns that next U.S. war will be a cyber-attack

By Lee Davidson

Deseret News Washington correspondent

WASHINGTON  With lessons learned while he was the Paul Revere of the year 2000 computer problem, Sen. Bob Bennett is riding out again to warn of another new cyber-threat.

The Utah Republican says the next world war may not be fought with tanks and missiles but by enemy hackers attacking the nation's computers to bring everything from utilities to commerce to a standstill.

"The most vulnerable country in the world to this kind of attack is the United States of America because we have the most advanced capabilities," he said Thursday during a speech to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce conference on cyber-security.

Bennett said addressing the Y2K threat showed him how interconnected all of the nation's computers are.

He said that helped him and others realize "a cyber-attack one place can bring down services in all the other places in the world."

Hints of how vulnerable companies and governments are, he said, have occurred in recent weeks as hackers have temporarily shut down dozens of Internet businesses.

Still, Bennett said, "the problem is not the hacker. The problem is not the 17-year-old. He or she can cause difficulties, can shut down Amazon.com for a few hours and disrupt things but ultimately will not bring this economy to an end."

He said the big threat would be if "a possible major state . . . would develop the resources for a concentrated, continuing and sophisticated attack over time."

Bennett added, "In my opinion, the next war will be this target rather than the traditional" weapons of war.

Worse, Bennett said government and business are not structured well to protect against such a threat.

He said the defense would require "horizontal thinking" across numerous jurisdictional boundaries created to contend with older style threats from days before money and information moved across political boundaries at lightning speed.

For example, he said Senate committees that have some oversight of cyber-threats include Judiciary, Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Governmental Affairs, Commerce and Banking.

He said the chairmen could view themselves as in charge, but non-coordinated efforts could spell disaster.

Bennett said Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott realized that and asked Bennett to head a GOP High-Tech Task Force to coordinate efforts across traditional boundaries, much as Y2K work was also coordinated with a special committee.

-- (in@the.news), March 26, 2000

Answers

I wonder what would have happened to Paul Revere if he rode around saying "The British are coming, the British are coming" and then they never showed up? I doubt he'd be a national hero.

-- Jim Cooke (JJCooke@yahoo.com), March 26, 2000.

Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), March 26, 2000.

Taking Bennet's statement as it stands is malarkey,while the threat of cyber-terrorism is legitimate it does not constitute a war but rather the battle(s) within the war.

And it seems this would be primarily a defensive battle.

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), March 26, 2000.

Take a look at the USA Today article on the thread at http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002hff

'How the government failed to stop the world's worst Internet attack"

-- March 9, 2000 (In@the.news), March 26, 2000.

-- (it@lics.off), March 26, 2000.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,155013410,00.html?

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Bennett leads cyber-defense

Utah senator fears U.S. will be attacked by computer hackers

By Lee Davidson

Deseret News Washington correspondent

WASHINGTON  Sen. Bob Bennett was appointed Monday to head a new Senate group designed to be a central clearing house for information on how to combat cyber-attacks.

That comes after Bennett, R-Utah, said last week that he fears the next world war will not be fought with tanks and missiles, but by enemy hackers attacking the nation's computers to crash everything from the nation's utilities to its banking.

Bennett also headed a similar committee that oversaw combating the Year 2000 computer glitch. His new Critical Infrastructure Protection Working Group emerges largely to address threats warned about by the earlier Y2K committee.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said he formed the group and named Bennett to head it because "recent hacker attacks on major e-commerce and government Web sites demonstrate the importance of information security."

Bennett said, "The interconnectivity and advanced capabilities of U.S. computer systems makes the United States more vulnerable to cyber-attacks than any other nation in the world. Such attacks could bring the U.S. economy to its knees."

He added, "The CIP Working Group will serve as a central repository for this information and coordinate efforts to increase national awareness."

Also appointed to the group were senators who chair regular committees that share some jurisdiction over the problem  including Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

Others include senators who chair the Banking, Commerce, Foreign Relations, Commerce, Energy, Intelligence, Appropriations, Environmental, Governmental Affairs and Armed Services committees, plus a few additional senators.

Just last week, Bennett told a symposium on cyber-security that lessons learned from fighting Y2K problems showed him how vulnerable America is to an attack via computer hacking.

"The most vulnerable country in the world to this kind of attack is the United States of America because we have the most advanced capabilities," he said.

Bennett added that because computer systems are now so interconnected, "a cyber-attack one place can bring down services in all the other places in the world."

He said the major threat would be if "a possible major state . . . would develop the resources for a concentrated, continuing and sophisticated attack over time" via computer hacking.

Bennett added, "In my opinion, the next war will be this target rather than the traditional" weapons of war.

-- (in@the.news), March 29, 2000.