-----Original Message----- From: NIPC Watch [mailto:nipc.watch@private] Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2001 6:22 AM To: daily Subject: NIPC Daily Report, 3 July 2001 Significant Changes and Assessment - No Significant Changes. Private Sector - Hackers targeted a commercial customer of STIC.NET, a San Antonio-based Internet service provider, but it created a domino effect that brought Internet access to a halt for 18 hours on 27 June. "For a little ISP in San Antonio, this is the biggest we've ever seen," said Dave Robertson, president of STIC.NET, which has 10,000 to 20,000 local customers. Robertson declined to identify the victimized customer but described the denial-of-service attack as "close to catastrophe." STIC.NET went down at 2:40 a.m. and started coming back online at 4:15 p.m. with full service, except for the hackers' target, restored by 8:05 p.m. on 27 June, Robertson said. However, Robertson said hackers were continuing their assault on the target even into the morning on 28 June. "This wasn't a drive-by. It's still an ongoing attack. Other Internet-related companies in San Antonio did not report hacking attacks, although they say Internet access was slow on 27 June. Meanwhile, the hacking attack that shut down STIC.NET has been traced to the Milwaukee operations center of Time Warner Telecom, whose Internet customers include STIC.NET. "It's hard to tell the exact number of hits," said Bob Meldrum, Time Warner Telecom's senior director of marketing and communications. (Source: San Antonio Express-News, 29 June) Sun has released a new series of updated security fixes for Solaris. The patches, which can be downloaded from the sunsolve Web site, include: patch 106942-17 for Solaris 7, sparc, patching libnsl, rpc.nisd and nis_cachemgr, patch 107038-02 for Solaris 7, sparc, patch update, and patch 107039-02 for Solaris 7, x86, patch update. (Source: SecurityWatch, 2 July) International - Italian computer police said that hackers operating from outside Europe attacked Web sites at the Ministry for Production Activities and several Chambers of Commerce, leaving messages against globalization on this month's Group of Eight summit in Genoa, Italy on 1 July. The computer police said they were able to block the hackers immediately and were monitoring all government sites for possible future attacks. (Source: Associated National Press Agency, 1 July) In Australia, a top official has warned that computers rather than missiles could pose the biggest security threat of the future with nations able to cripple rivals by using cyberwarfare. Admiral Chris Barrie, chief of the Australian Defense Forces, said at a conference in Sydney that more than 30 countries have advanced and aggressive programs for waging war by computer. Computer strikes could damage a country's infrastructure as well as defense equipment, cutting off communications, power supplies and military command systems, he said. Highly computerized nations like the U.S. and Australia were particularly vulnerable and had to protect themselves, Admiral Barrie warned. (Source: InfoSec News, 2 July) On 1 July, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) in Taiwan arrested a man who is suspected of hacking into online brokerage firms and creating substantial losses in their customers' accounts. The suspect, Chang Shian-tang (Chang Hsien-t'ang), had allegedly been using decoding software brought from China to hack into the Web sites of at least two online trading companies. Chang allegedly decoded the customers' passwords and personal information of more than 2,000 customers, and with this information logged on and traded stocks; allegedly created losses estimated at NT$10 million. According to local media, the CIB's investigations into the case revealed that the security systems for many online brokerage firms are very similar and easily breached. The incident has revealed an immediate need for online brokerage companies to upgrade their security. (Source: Taipei Times, 3 July) Military - The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is refining the way it responds to attacks on its computer networks and wants to have a revised alert system in place later this year. All command echelons, under this, will possess standardized guidelines to allow them to react cohesively and uniformly to protect the DoD's critical information infrastructure. According to project officials, the focus of the new alert system is to keep the DoD's networks up and running to maintain the flow of information to the warfighter, while network defensive operations are carried out in the event of an attack. A recent study by the DoD's Defense Science Board concluded that the DoD's networks remain highly vulnerable and susceptible to major disruptions, especially in the event of a deliberate state-sponsored attack. About 20 countries, such as China, are pursuing CNA capabilities, it said. Annual expenditures of around $3 billion, about $1.4 billion more than current outlays, are needed to adequately protect the U.S. systems, the study noted. (Source: Jane's Defence Weekly, 29 June) Government - NTR U.S. SECTOR INFORMATION: Electrical Power - Soaring temperatures triggered rolling power blackouts 2 July in southern Nevada. The Las Vegas-based Nevada Power briefly declared a red alert as churning air conditioners outstripped the utility company's ability to provide electricity. The company called a late afternoon news conference to provide details of the power emergency that lasted about two hours. Scattered outages were reported around the Las Vegas area as power-thirsty customers tried to cope with triple-digit temperatures. (Source: Associated Press 2 July) Emergency Services - NTR Telecommunications - NTR Banking and Finance - NTR Government Services - NTR Water Supply - NTR Gas and Oil Storage Distribution - NTR Transportation - NTR NOTE: Please understand that this is for informational purposes only and does not constitute any verification of the information contained in the report nor does this constitute endorsement by the NIPC or the FBI.
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