[ISN] Hackers Hit US Military Computers

From: mea culpa (jerichoat_private)
Date: Sun Jun 07 1998 - 12:17:43 PDT

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    Forwarded From: Brook Powers <lwpowersat_private>
    
    
    Hackers Hit U.S. Military Computers 
    By Janelle Carter
    Associated Press Writer
    Saturday, June 6, 1998; 4:39 p.m. EDT 
    
    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hackers entered U.S. Army computers last week and
    altered a command's Web site, an Army spokesman said Saturday. Days
    earlier, computer rebels claimed to have entered India's national security
    computer network and stolen sensitive nuclear weapons secrets. They said
    in an interview with the online magazine Wired News that they also altered
    a World Wide Web site there.
    
    Asked about a possible connection between the two incidents, Army
    spokesman Gerry Gilmore told The Associated Press, ``If you're hacking,
    you can go through different routes. Evidently they went through some Army
    organization's computers.''
    
    Later, however, Gilmore refused further comment about whether the hackers
    used the Army access to enter the Indian government computers. He referred
    further questions to the Defense Department. Pentagon spokesman Jim Turner
    said only that ``the appropriate authorities are looking into it.''
    
    Both the FBI and the Army were investigating the matter, officials said. 
    The six hackers -- who call themselves the MilwOrm Group, said they are
    15-18 years old and hail from the United States, England, the Netherlands
    and New Zealand -- claimed to have accessed electronic mail messages sent
    between India's nuclear scientists and Israeli government officials as
    well as downloaded sensitive documents. They also altered the Web site of
    the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, the nerve center of India's nuclear
    programs, they said in the online interview. 
    
    The Indian government vehemently denied on Friday that the breach resulted in
    the loss of sensitive information, saying the hackers only accessed e-mail
    messages of scientists and the web site. 
    
    ``Recent access by hackers has been only to e-mail messages of scientists
    and BARC home page information, and the connections for these are isolated
    from all other computers used at BARC and obviously do not contain any
    sensitive information,'' said S. Narendra, principal spokesman for the
    government of India, reading a release from BARC officials.
    
    Gilmore said the hackers apparently got into the Army's computers Thursday
    through its Dental Command system at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. ``The home
    page, the title page, was altered,'' Gilmore said. ``The server was shut
    down upon discovery. It's been secured.''
    
    Gilmore would not elaborate on the type of information the hackers gained
    or if U.S. security was compromised.
    
    A Web site called AntiOnline began posting Saturday what it said were
    samples of data stolen from the Bombay research center's computers.
    AntiOnline said it had received the information from the hackers.
    
    The hackers said they were angry about last month's nuclear tests
    conducted by India and Pakistan.  President Clinton warned during
    commencement ceremonies last month at the U.S.  Naval Academy that the
    United States is increasingly vulnerable to cyber-attack. He called for
    strengthening the nation's computer defenses and ordered an assessment to
    plan against such attacks. 
    
    
    
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