-----Original Message----- From: NIPC Watch [mailto:nipc.watch@private] Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 5:41 AM To: Daily Distribution Subject: NIPC DAILY REPORT FOR 7 MARCH 2002 NIPC Daily Report 07 March 2002 The NIPC Watch and Warning Unit compiles this report to inform recipients of issues impacting the integrity and capability of the nation's critical infrastructures. Energy Department agrees to speed cleanup at Hanford nuclear site in Washington State. The Bush administration plans to restore $300 million it had cut from Hanford's 2003 budget and provide an additional $150 million next year, as part of a plan to speed the cleanup of the nuclear reservation. Cleaning the nation's most contaminated nuclear site will be accelerated by 35 to 45 years. (Associated Press, 6 Mar) Al Qa'ida may be regrouping in Pakistan. Intercepted e?mail messages and other Internet traffic, including new Web sites, show signs of Al Qa'ida fighters loyal to the Taliban regime trying to reorganize in Pakistan with the intention of going back to Afghanistan. A US government source told CNN that new communications traffic is a serious concern because Al Qa'ida might use the Internet to launch new attacks on the US. (CNN, 6 Mar) Controlling wireless LAN access with 802.1x. The current 802.11b standard provides weak station authentication and no real data integrity. The default mode, open system authentication, permits any station to associate with any access point. The alternative, shared key authentication, relies on a group secret known to all stations. IEEE 802.1x defines a generic framework for port-based access control and LAN station authentication. In this framework, an authenticator (an Ethernet switch or wireless AP) authenticates a supplicant (an Ethernet or wireless NIC) by consulting a local ACL or an external authentication server. (TISC Insight, 6 Mar) US Reviewing Cuba, cyberattacks. The Bush administration has begun a policy review regarding Cuba that will examine, among other issues, Cuba's involvement in international terrorism and its capability to disrupt US military communications through the Internet. A year ago, Vice Adm. Thomas Wilson, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told a congressional hearing that Cuba has the potential to use "information warfare or computer network attack" to disrupt "our access or flow of forces to the region." (Associated Press, Mar 6)
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