Pentagon Cyber Hackers Claim NASA Also Cracked
Source: Reuters
April 25, 1998
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An international group of
computer hackers who successfully broke into the telecommunications
backbone of the U.S. military said Wednesday they had also stolen key
software programs from NASA. The group, which calls itself the
``Masters of Downloading’’ or MOD, said the cyber-attack had stripped
the U.S. space agency of its chief defense against computer intrusion
and would allow them ``to pass undetected through their systems.’’ MOD
announced earlier it had broken into another sensitive site, the
Pentagon’s
Defense Information Systems Network (DISN), and stolen enough
information to ``take control’’ of military satellites and other
systems.
MOD, which includes at least two Russian members, said
it might consider selling the information to international terrorist
groups or foreign governments. Defense Department officials confirmed
the intrusion had taken place, but said the stolen software package
did not in itself constitute classified information. The DISN, which
one Pentagon official described as the ’’telecommunications backbone’’
for the Defense Department, is key to a number of military systems
including the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite network which
U.S. military planners use for everything from missile targeting to
troop movement information.
Computer expert John Vranesevich, who runs the
AntiOnline Web site devoted to information security issues
(www.antionline.com), said Wednesday that MOD had contacted him with
new claims about a break-in at NASA. ``They have access to a lot more
than they’ve given to me, or let me know about,’’ Vranesevich told
Reuters. ``The materials that they’ve supplied to me are the bottom of
the totem pole, they are boosting their credibility with proof that
they can get into these various systems.’’ According to MOD, which
sent Vranesevich samples of
the alleged NASA software to back up its claim, members of the group
broke into system through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in
Pasadena, California, and took away enough information to effectively
disable any ``intruder alert’’ system the agency’s computers might
have.
Specifically, the group said it now had key pieces of
the NASA Automatic Systems Incident Response Capability (NASIRC)
software package and was able to break into NASA computer servers with
impunity. NASA had no immediate comment on the group’s claims,
although one official who had seen a list of the software allegedly
stolen said ``it doesn’t look too alarming.’’ ``It is pretty trivial
stuff that is openly available. It doesn’t look like something a
super-slick hacker would take,’’ the official, who spoke on condition
of anonymity, said. Vranesevich, who has conducted several online
interviews with MOD members, said the group appeared both more mature
and more dangerous than the teen-age hackers who mounted a
widely-publicized cyber-assault on the Pentagon in February. ``They
are much more secretive, much more careful, and much more
sophisticated,’’ said Vranesevich, who was instrumental in tracking
down the 18-year-old Israeli hacker known as the ’’Analyzer’’.
He said MOD members, some of whom claim to be computer
security specialists themselves, contact him with an elaborate system
of passwords and cover their tracks by routing communication through a
variety of computer systems all over the world.
by Deborah Zabarenko