Hacking Posing Greater Threat, Report Says

Computer hacking isn’t just a game for 16-year-old cyber joy riders anymore, according to a congressional study. U.S. companies and government agencies are increasingly threatened by sophisticated computer spies and saboteurs, and few are equipped to withstand such attacks, the report, released last week, says.

Among the findings of the 63-page study, released at a Senate subcommittee on investigations hearing:

* Defense Department experts who test security can break into non-classified department networks about 88% of the time using commonly available hacker tools.

* In the movie “The Net,” a hacker electronically breaks into the Bethesda Naval Medical Center and changes the medical records of the secretary of defense. Although that was fiction, hackers could, until recently, have easily made such a change. An official said those security holes have since been closed.

* Officials at the Federal Aviation Administration told investigators that air traffic control computers are “relatively safe” from intrusion. That is largely because the machines are “so antiquated and consist of so many separate and incompatible systems [that] they are more resistant to modern hacking tools.” As the FAA upgrades its technology, however, it may become more vulnerable to hackers.

Forty-two percent of the 428 respondents to a study carried out by the Computer Security Institute in San Francisco and the FBI said their systems had been invaded within the past year. However, few government agencies regularly collect data about security problems.

The investigators said many of the government agencies they interviewed reported that they had no in-house individual or office responsible for computer security.