[ISN] NPA reports hackers attacking its computers

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Fri Nov 08 2002 - 00:59:51 PST

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    Forwarded from: William Knowles <wkat_private>
    
    http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20021108a3.htm
    
    The Japan Times
    November 8, 2002  
    
    The National Police Agency said Thursday there were about 51,000
    attempts by hackers to break into police computer systems throughout
    the country during the three-month period from July to September.
    
    But agency officials said the attempts were not all necessarily
    directed at police, and that some of the hackers may have accessed the
    computers unknowingly because the agency does not disclose that police
    are in charge of the systems in question.
    
    The NPA's Cyber Force unit began monitoring hacking attempts in April
    using a network linking 57 computer systems at regional police bureaus
    and prefectural police departments.
    
    The unit, which combats Net-based terrorism in the form of computer
    hacking, said that on average each system was the recipient of 10
    hacking attempts a day over the three-month period.
    
    "(These figures show that) you need to discard the notion that
    individually owned computers are secure and need to strengthen
    measures to counter hacking," an NPA official said.
    
    Italy was the most frequently used base for launching cyber attacks
    against the police computer systems, representing 20.6 percent of all
    attempts.
    
    It was followed by the United States at 18.8 percent, Japan at 18.2
    percent, China at 7.2 percent, South Korea at 5.9 percent and Israel
    at 4.9 percent.
    
    Officials said, however, that these figures did not necessarily point
    to the actual country where the attack originated, as they only
    indicate the last point before reaching Japan.
    
    The Cyber Force data also show that nearly 90 percent of the hacking
    activities detected amounted to attempts to learn what kinds of
    programs were being used by the targeted computers.
    
    This is seen as a preparatory activity for full-fledged hacking. About
    10 percent represented attacks meant to shut down or take control of
    the systems, such as by repeatedly trying to overload a system by
    flooding it with hits, or by sending data that would damage the
    computers.
    
    The NPA intends to monitor these activities regularly and provide its
    results to firms involved in telecommunications, electric power and
    transportation.
    
    The agency will also launch a Web site on cyber security in March to
    try to inform the public on ways to guard against hacking, NPA
    officials said.
    
    
     
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