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Al-Qaeda Possibly Planning Cyber Attacks Against U.S.
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| “Al-Qaeda
spent more time mapping our vulnerabilities in cyberspace than
we previously thought,” said Cressey.
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WASHINGTON,
June 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Al-Qaeda may be seeking
Internet access to computer switches that control utilities and
emergency services to cause harm or enhance more conventional attacks,
The Washington Post said Thursday, June 27, 2002.
Since
late last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been
investigating a suspicious pattern of surveillance of computers
systems throughout the United States from browsers in the Middle East
and South Asia, said the daily who had access to a "forensic
summary" of the investigation.
Routed
through telecommunications switches in
Saudi Arabia
,
Indonesia
and
Pakistan
, the visitors studied emergency telephone systems, electrical
generation and transmission, water storage and distribution, nuclear
power plants and gas facilities, reported the Post.
Investigators
have found evidence in the Internet that Al-Qaeda members spend time
on sites that offer software and programming instructions for digital
switches that run power, water, transport and communications grids.
Captured
Al-Qaeda members have also described intentions to use such cyber
tools in some interrogations, the daily said. A computer taken from an
Al-Qaeda office contained models of a dam, made with structural
architecture and engineering software, that enabled the planners to
simulate its catastrophic failure.
Some
of the "multiple casings of sites" suggest planning for
conventional terrorist attacks, while others focus on digital devices
that allow remote control of services such as fire dispatch and
equipment such as pipelines.
Together
with information on such devices found on Al-Qaeda computers seized
this year, electronic surveillance has led investigators to believe
Al-Qaeda is close to using the Internet as an instrument of bloodshed.
They
believe Al-Qaeda could be planning, for example, to command the
floodgates in a dam, or high voltage at power substations to destroy
lives and property.
"The
event I fear most is a physical attack in conjunction with a
successful cyber-attack on the responders' 911 [emergency dispatch]
system or on the power grid," Ronald Dick, FBI National
Infrastructure Protection Center director told a closed gathering of
corporate security executives in Niagara Falls, New York, on June 12.
Dick
told the daily that a cyber component to a conventional Al-Qaeda
attack could mean that "the first responders couldn't get there
... and water didn't flow, hospitals didn't have power."
Specialists
consulted by the daily said digital controls behind much of the
country's infrastructure were not designed with public access in mind,
so they lack even rudimentary security "having fewer safeguards
than purchasing flowers online."
According
to CNET, a major computer industry trade company, information
technology professionals believe the government is not adequately
prepared for a major cyber-attack on critical infrastructure
facilities.
According
to a survey of IT professionals conducted for Business Software
Alliance (BSA), nearly half believe the
U.S.
government will be hit with a "major cyber-attack" in the
next 12 months, reports CNET.
Nevertheless,
the
U.S.
government is divided on the extent of the cyber-threat. The Defense
Department believes Al-Qaeda prefers simple, reliable plans that don't
rely on sophisticated computerware, while the White House and the FBI
believe the threat is very real.
"Al-Qaeda
spent more time mapping our vulnerabilities in cyberspace than we
previously thought," said Roger Cressey, counterterrorism
official and chief of staff of the president's Critical Infrastructure
Protection Board.
"An
attack is a question of when, not if," he added
However,
White House officials declined to say whether they had identified a
specific dam as a possible target, the newspaper said.
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