Pentagon Says Its Computers Hit by Hackers

Despite an elaborate effort to protect its huge databanks, the Pentagon’s computer networks have suffered “the most organized and systematic attack” ever in the last two weeks, the department’s second-ranking official said Wednesday.

Computer hackers broke into unclassified computer networks to examine--and possibly alter--payroll and personnel data, “sending a wake-up call” to officials about the need to bolster security, said Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre.

None of the Pentagon’s classified computer networks, which are shielded by far more elaborate security measures, were touched by the violations, which are now under investigation by the FBI, he said. But Hamre pointed out that the penetration could nonetheless be enormously disruptive if the intruders, in fact, altered payroll or personnel records, as well as memoranda.

Hamre said that the break-ins were more likely the work of hackers interested in “voyeurism or vandalism” rather than any terrorist or rival nation bent on harming U.S. interests.

The break-ins had “all the appearances of a game,” he said, adding that according to Pentagon officials, they took place at a time when some computer hackers have been competing to see if they could break into the Pentagon computers.

“There are hackers that enjoy breaking into computers just to see what they can see,” he said.

But Hamre also said that the evidence offers no conclusive proof that the penetrations were not the work of enemy nationals, such as Iraqis.

The disclosure came at a time of rising concern about the threat of such tampering by amateur hackers, as well as sophisticated professionals, “cyber-terrorists” and even foreign intelligence operatives. Only last year, the Defense Science Board, a group of outside experts, warned the Pentagon of the threat of an “electronic Pearl Harbor” and proposed to sharply boost the department’s computer-security spending, now about $1.6 billion a year.

“It is a clear and present danger,” said Paul Strassmann, a member of the board and the Pentagon’s former chief of information technology.

The Pentagon has long held a special attraction for hackers and congressional researchers have estimated that there are 250,000 attempts to crack its security each year.

Hamre said that the trail left by the entries suggests that the violations were committed by one hacker, or a small number. The trail was transmitted through overseas computer nodes, or junctions, as well as domestic ones, he said. But most of the activity seemed centered in the United States, suggesting that the hackers were based here.

The evidence indicated that the hackers were seeking to set up “trapdoors”--exits that would permit them to reenter the computers later. Pentagon officials sought to close those doors as the hackers opened them but it was unclear how much data might have been removed before the doors were closed, Hamre said.

Hamre said that the Pentagon intends to respond vigorously to this latest threat. The department will step up its effort to install computer “firewalls,” which increase security by providing only one electronic doorway into a computer system.

The department also intends to add “automated watch centers,” designed to find traces of illegal entries.

“We’ve come to recognize [that] we need to do a lot more in this area,” he said.

In recent years, operators of government and private computer networks alike have struggled to keep up with would-be violators who range from teenage hackers, white-collar criminals, industrial espionage agents and cyber-terrorists.

Even the best computer security systems can be broken and in recent years hackers have developed powerful automated tools, many of them now available on the Internet.

“Password crackers,” for example, can run through all the permutations of possible passwords at lightning speed until they find one that works. Software systems can “ping” on a computer system at high speeds to disable a computer or communications switch and thus gain entry.

A powerful software tool called Satan, developed by a San Francisco programmer and available on the Internet, can search computer networks for vulnerabilities and report back on its findings. Other tools look for “sync mode” vulnerabilities that can trick the methods computers use in exchanging messages.

While many violations go undetected, the number of discovered violations has been rising.

Strassmann, the Pentagon’s former information technology chief, said that the worst damage hackers can inflict on the Pentagon is in undermining confidence in the military’s logistics and administrative systems.

“What if an order gets placed to send 185 boxes of missiles to Dover Air Force Base and instead you get 19,000 boxes of grenades?” he said. “Now that becomes a problem.”

And he pointed out that there is a threat from “information assassins,” sophisticated professionals who can be hired to tap into networks.