Pentagon admits USB virus attack

Attack in 2008 reveals insecurity in military networks

In 2008, a foreign agent managed to compromise the Pentagon's secret computer networks using a USB stick. The US Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn has now admitted in Foreign Affairs magazine. According to this, an infected data carrier was infected with a military laptop in the Middle East. As a result, a worm was able to spread unnoticed even in secret networks.

"That shows how difficult it is to stop a targeted attack," says Eddy Willems, Security Evangelist at G Data http://gdata.de, in conversation with pressetext. The attack was an important wake-up call for the Pentagon to rethink its cybersecurity strategy, said Lynn. Admittedly, the US military has not been the only one struggling with embarrassing worm infestations in recent years. Among other things, the Bundeswehr was a Conficker victim in 2009.

{jumi [plugins/content/jumi/newsgrafik.php]}


"Digital bridgehead"
According to Lynn, the malicious code from the USB stick "effectively established a digital bridgehead in public and secret US military networks from which data could be transmitted to servers under foreign control". It was precisely this attack that led to the US military declaring war on USB sticks at the end of 2008, reports Wired magazine. However, the variant of the "SillyFDC" worm used was only suitable for stealing data from secret networks to a limited extent. "It's not the most potent threat," admits Lynn.
"Even with a simple worm, the victim has a real problem if he is part of a targeted attack," says Willems. He points out that the Pentagon does not reveal any details about which other attack techniques were used in combination with the relatively harmless pest. In any case, the incident in 2008 triggered the worm clean-up "Operation Buckshot Yankee" and increased the focus on military cybersecurity, the US Secretary of Defense said.


Under cyber attack
It is important for states to be well prepared for cyber threats. "I think the US in particular has made great strides in recent years," said Willems. Work on the cybersecurity of the military and authorities is also necessary in other countries. The Conficker worm has impressively demonstrated this over the past 21 months. Because Microsoft patched the Windows security hole that was originally used in November 2008, but this could not stop the malware from being successful.
The worm paralyzed a British police network this year. In spring 2009, the French Air Force, the British House of Commons and the German Bundeswehr were among the victims of Conficker. "The US is probably currently better prepared for cyber threats than many European countries, says the G-Data security expert. However, progress is clearly being made in Europe too, for example in Germany.

(ck)

.

paste