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Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Wednesday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind |
In computer news this week 04/22/2009 The ongoing
secret cyber war .. Cyber spies
have broken into the Pentagon's computer system, stealing information related
to the $300 billion $ Joint Strike Fighter project, according to a Wall
Street Journal report today. The Joint Strike Fighter is the Pentagon's
costliest weapons program. Earlier this month the Journal reported
that Cyber spies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind
software programs that could be used to disrupt the system.. The spies came from
China, Russia and other countries, and were believed to be on a mission to
navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven't
sought to damage the power grid, but officials warned they could try during a
crisis or war. All this is part of the
new cold war – a cyber war using the internet as its arena – with
neither side talking to each other, but with a lot of espionage and
cyber-terrorism activity ongoing. I was in a division of
naval intelligence known as the Naval Security Group during the Vietnam
conflict. Our job was to try to
monitor and intercept enemy signals, and my last duty station was on Adak
Alaska, known then as the listening post of the world. All the signals we
monitored were radio signals and morse code, and Adak at the time had the
intelligence groups of all the services. Today, Adak has been
completely demilitarized - which means that intelligence gathering has
changed greatly. The internet began
roughly the same time I was in the service, and it was to be a military
research network that could survive a nuclear strike, decentralized so that
if any locations in the U.S. were
attacked, the military could still have control of nuclear arms for a counter-attack. The WWW emerged out of
the internet in 1992, and today the internet and the WWW are two separate but
related entities. I found it interesting
that the WSJ story said that the most sensitive Fighter project information
was not breached because it is stored on computers not attached to the Internet. So ironically, it appears
that the only sure way of keeping military information or data private is to
not place it on the internet, which was created for military purposes ... The presumption is that
if data or information is on the internet, it is copy-able or downloadable,
therefore from a security perspective considered compromised. This certainly has proven
true for music and videos, as the entertainment industry has reported greatly
decreasing sales in recent years, because of all the piracy going on. And anyone who creates or
authors something should heed this warning before placing it on the internet.
And so the
secret cyber war continues, and I sure hope we’re winning. |
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For Raw Bytes This is Frank Delaney (C) 2009 MTA Micro
Technology Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html PO Box 31522 Spokane, Wa 99223-1522 (509)624-7230 |
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