[ISN] Cyber attacks draw terror tag

From: InfoSec News (alerts@private)
Date: Fri Jun 08 2007 - 07:06:19 PDT


http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,21870446-5013040,00.html

Correspondents in Tallinn 
June 08, 2007

ESTONIA will call on the European Union to define cyber attacks as "acts 
of terror", Estonian Justice Minister Rein Lang said. "We're inclined to 
view such things as acts of terror, just as the Americans view them 
now," Mr Lang said

"I predict a fairly interesting discussion on this" he added.

At the same news conference, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip reiterated 
accusations that computers in Kremlin had carried out a number of the 
cyber attacks launched on Estonian institutions after a row with Russia 
at the end of April over the removal of a Soviet war memorial from the 
centre of Tallinn.

He and Lang added that the attacks were well organised and, regardless 
of whether the Kremlin had knowledge of them, were a serious breach of 
security.

"These attacks came directly from the IP address of the (Russian) 
president's office," Mr Ansip said.

Mr Lang said: "If the computers (in the Kremlin) were used 
unintentionally, then that means there are computers in the Russian 
administration which may be used for criminal attacks."

"It's clear the attacks were an organised offensive against the 
information systems of the Estonian state structures and against the 
infrastructure of the state in general," he said.

Moscow has denied any involvement in the massive cyber attacks against 
Estonia, which forced the authorities here to temporarily bar access to 
official state websites. Some of the attacks also targeted private 
interests such as banks.


_____________________________________________________
Attend Black Hat USA, July 28-August 2 in Las Vegas, 
the world's premier technical event for ICT security 
experts. Featuring 30 hands-on training courses and 
90 Briefings presentations with lots of new content 
and new tools. Network with 4,000 delegates from 
70 nations.   Visit product displays by 30 top
sponsors in a relaxed setting. Rates increase on 
June 1 so register today. http://www.blackhat.com



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Fri Jun 08 2007 - 07:23:51 PDT