The Issue of The Security of The Internet

It’s 3:30 pm on a Tuesday, and an urgent phone call is received by the bank manager advising him that the network is ‘acting-up’ again. Frozen systems, blue screens, and data losses are occurring on workstations around the entire bank. Employees sit at their cubicles dumbfounded, as they no longer have control over their computers. An incoming fax is received, and the sender is anonymous; “Your network is af ing mess.” The message goes on to inform the bank of the critical attack that was just performed on their system, along with details of holes and bugs in their computer network. Just another electronic-vandal playing games on his computer? Possibly, but for what reason. For personal gain or financial growth? The question of ‘why did he do it’ is no longer important in this day of age; rather we should be asking, ‘how could it be done.’ Privacy, personal information, and financial transactions on networks, the Internet and the WWW will never and can never be 100% secure.

With a growing global itch for e-commerce and Internet transactions, security of systems has become a hot topic around the world. With the number of Internet users almost exponentially growing every year, there is more and more information and personal data online and vulnerable to cyber terrorists or hackers. The situation has gotten so serious that the President of the United States, possibly one of the most powerful men in the world, has taken charge and began acting out against cyber terrorism. He has recently endorsed a $9-million proposal to build a high-tech security institute. “We know we have to keep cyberspace open and free,” Clinton said. “At the same time, computer networks (must be more secure and resilient and we have to do more to protect privacy and civil liberties.” Professionals and critics say that this is not nearly enough. “This is the information age, and the average computer gives up far too much information about itself. A network is only as strong as its weakest user.” It’s not the systems themselves that are the problem, rather the users that make the systems vulnerable. The most common password, even in non-English spoken countries, is ‘password’. Until time can be spent on training employees about things like this, we will only be seeing more and more security breaches. We no longer live in a world where robbing the bank meant wearing a mask and carrying a gun. Such a task can literally be carried out by a 16-year old high school student and a group of friends from the computers their parents bought them for Christmas.

There’s not a whole lot companies can do to prevent these kinds of strikes. “There will be increasingly creative attempts to foil hackers, but that will be very tough, if not an impossible process.” Impossible is the key word. It’s like a game of cat and mouse. Security systems are upgraded, and almost immediately hackers are hard at work cracking and breaking codes to force their way through the doors. It’s a game to them. The harder the security locks, the more fun it is. It’s not even the fact that they are gaining anything from the hack, only the satisfaction that they did it, and the recognition from fellow hackers is payment enough.

The security of the Internet has become such a big issue it has struck high agencies such as the F.B.I and the D.O.D. The Department of Defense has taken several steps to upgrading it’s security, including hiring it’s own ‘in-house hackers’ to protect their system from cyber strikes. Agencies have upgraded their security products, set new security policies and changed systems’ architectures to keep one step ahead of hackers.

Companies do what they have to do to keep themselves safe, but is it really enough? Many say the upgrades and protections provide a false sense of security for these businesses. “No one connected to a computer network is really safe from hackers. In the end, hackers see security systems as a challenge, not an obstacle,” says David Mandeville, a self-proclaimed hacker. Once hackers get onto machines that host networks, they can alter or remove files, steal information and erase the evidence of those activities. Anything they want really; as if they were sitting in front of the system themselves. But many hackers break security systems just to see if they can do it. For these type of hackers, it’s more a test of skill than an attempt to steal or alter data. But besides these type of hackers, there are hackers out there who are in it solely for personal gain; as well as hacking groups a.k.a. ‘cyber terrorists’, who create mass destruction in the cyber world.

Large companies, especially financial institutes are doing all they can to help prevent cyber attacks from occurring. A large network of information has been developed to inform them of such crimes and help prevent them before they are happen. Licensed banks and other government-regulated financial firms that become subscribers are able to exchange information or tap into the network’s details of known security threats. Urgent alerts are sent by e-mail, pager and cellular phones, to a bank’s experts, who pay $13,000 to $125,000, depending on how many employees use the information.

“The government wasn’t involved, everything was anonymous. The private sector can help each other without additional regulation.” But large corporations are going to need all the help that they can get, according to some experts. If that means teaming up with government efforts in order to prevent hackers from penetrating the system, then so be it. Clinton states, “The tools are out there, but not many companies are taking advantage of them.” In so many cases we have seen money solve the problem; but when it comes to knowledge, it’s almost as if money isn’t part of the picture. Millions of dollars are being spent on securing companies networks, and single users are wiping them out completely with $1000 machines. Just as the hackers have united into an underground army of experienced and powerful computer users, companies and businesses are going to have to take an offensive and attack back with strategy, not with currency.

The FBI, President Clinton, SUN, IBM, Microsoft; some of the biggest names in the world, are all dealing with security issues over networks, the Internet in specific. Bill Clinton has set aside $2 billion in the new budget for protecting the nation’s computer infrastructure from sabotage; about $91 million of that would go toward addressing cyber-terrorism. $2 billion sure seems like a large sum of money, but at first glance at some of the stories making headlines, money doesn’t seem to be an obstacle.

Even huge corporations such as NASA and the military are experiencing havoc from hackers. February 23, 2000, “a college student broke into military and government computers, gained control of a NASA system and interrupted business at an Internet service provider in a nationwide hacking spree.” Government and military web sites have also been attacked by vandals, who said they were retaliating over FBI raids of several prominent hackers, including one whom ultimately pleaded guilty to breaking into the White House computers.

The threat of cyber-terrorism is global. The worldwide network of computers is so loosely knit that cyber crime is made to look like stealing candy from a baby. “If somebody wanted to launch an attack,” says Fred B. Schneider, a professor of computer science at Cornell University, “it would not be at all difficult. There are a infinite number of opportunities.” During the Gulf War, Dutch hackers stole information about U.S. troop movements from U.S. Defense Department computers and tried to sell it to the Iraqis, who thought it was a hoax and turned it down. It’s no longer a game of breaking web sites and stealing email passwords. These are people’s lives that are on the line.

In 1997 and 1998, an Israeli youth calling himself “The Analyzer” allegedly hacked into Pentagon computers with help from California teen-agers. The Pentagon said to be the highest protected and tightest secured establishment in the world, falls into the hands of a teenager ‘e-vandal’ halfway across the world. A hack of this caliber goes to show that it doesn’t matter how much money is spent on the newest technology or the greatest security features, it’s only a matter of time until someone can break through the barrier.

In March 1997, a 15-year-old Croatian youth penetrated computers at an U.S. Air Force base in Guam. In February 1999, unidentified hackers seized control of a British military communication satellite and demanded money in return for control of the satellite. These are just a microcosmic amount of examples that shows the strength and vulnerability of these hackers. “There are lots of opportunities,” says Schneider. “That’s very scary.” We don’t see or hear stories of security proficiency or an unbreakable’ computer infrastructure for one simply reason, there are none.

It doesn’t matter how much money is spent on securing the systems, it’s the systems themselves that are providing hackers with the information to commit their crimes and this isn’t preventable. Upgrades to system security are seen as a challenge by hackers, and it’s been proven time and time again that hackers cannot be stopped. Even when agencies are warned of attacks, they aren’t prepared to take action and their systems fall apart. They don’t have any clue how to stop cyberterrorists. Even government institutes such as NASA and the White House aren’t invulnerable from hackers. That goes to show that if these technologically rich places, where security is the number one concern can’t stop hackers, then no one can. It’s scary to think how fast we are moving into the cyber world and how quickly we are converting to living digital lives because, a computer network can never and will never be a secure place for people’s information.

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