HACKERS, MEDIA HYPE, AND DISINFORMATION

[rdom <rdom@thing.net>]

[: hacktivism :]

2/21/00
     HACKERS, MEDIA HYPE, AND
     DISINFORMATION
     WAYNE MADSEN

www.infowar.com

     February 17, 2000
     For what it is worth, I am a 20-year veteran of the computer
security community. I have
     served in the Navy, National Security Agency, State Department,
Computer Sciences
     Corporation, RCA, and have consulted on computer security with the
National Institute
     of Standards and Technology, international banks, telecom companies

and even firms
     that manufacture candy.
     While working for the FBI and Naval Investigative Service, I put
one US Navy official
     in Federal prison for espionage and other crimes, and I was
involved in U.S.
     counter-terrorism work in Greece and the Philippines. I think I
know how the "spook"
     community operates and, more importantly, how it thinks.

     The hype associated with the recent Internet flooding is outrageous

and serves the
     agendas of the military and intelligence communities regarding new
vistas for bloated
     Pentagon and espionage budgets.

     On 17 February, National Public Radio's Diane Rehm Show had a round

table
     discussion featuring James Adams, a former London Sunday Times
reporter in
     Washington who is now a drum beater for information warfare, and
Jeffrey Hunker, the
     former head of the White House Critical Infrastructure Assurance
Office. Adams
     suggested that for critical infrastructure protection certain civil

liberties must be forfeited.
     He also stated that Internet transactions should not be afforded
the same degree of
     privacy as the U.S. mail.

     Hunker was uncomfortable that some people think that scare
mongering has been at the
     center of the recent packet flooding of the Internet. Adams
supported the CIA's
     creation of IN-Q-IT, a CIA Trojan Horse in the Silicon Valley.
According to Adams,
     Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a virtual
CIA proprietary firm,
     is funding, through IN-Q-IT, a program called Net Eraser. None of
the participants in
     the Rehm Show were willing to talk about Net Eraser and some seemed

very nervous
     about discussing it in detail.

     This radio program is highly indicative of the current hype
surrounding the Distributed
     Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks on DOT COM sites on the Internet.
Even the use of
     the acronym DDOS is amazing. Here they are, twenty-something DOT
COM
     executives, who probably never thought about computer security
except for watching
     re-runs of "Hackers" and "Sneakers," using Pentagon-originated
terms like "Distributed
     Denial of Service" attacks.

     Why? Who told them to use those terms?

     Then Clinton manages to take 90 minutes to attend an Internet
security summit on
     February 15. Northern Ireland's peace agreement is falling apart,
the Israeli-Palestine
     agreement is unraveling, and Russia's new President is putting
ex-KGB agents in his
     government, but Clinton has enough time to talk with a group of
e-commerce barons,
     computer security geeks, and even one hacker. The whole thing
appeared to be staged
     and scheduled way in advance.

     The whole so-called Internet "hack" smells of a perception
management campaign by
     the intelligence community. Perhaps the system flooding was
coordinated by one group
     -- however, those types of attacks probably occur on a daily basis
without being
     reported by the world's media. It is important to note that one of
the key components of
     information warfare -- according to the Pentagon's own seminal
documents -- is
     perception management -- psychological operations to whip up public

support for a
     policy or program. The early Defense Science Board reports on
Critical Infrastructure
     Protection actually call for a campaign to change the public's
attitude about information
     system and network security.

     The Pentagon is a master at deception campaigns aimed at the news
media. They
     constantly broadcast disinformation to television and radio
audiences in Haiti, Serbia,
     Colombia, Mexico and elsewhere. They are now extending this to
cyber space. Critical
     infrastructure protection is a masterful ruse aimed at creating the

myth of impeding
     cyber-peril.

     The major domo is a weird chap named Richard Clarke, a Dr.
Strangelove-type
     character who is Clinton's counter-terrorism czar. He always talks
about defensive
     cyber-warfare but clams up when it comes to offensive US
cyber-operations. That is
     classified.

     However, it is certain that the US Government has already done more

to disrupt the
     Internet than any other actor -- state-sponsored or freelance. For
the past few years,
     US government hackers have penetrated networks at the European
Parliament,
     Australian Stock Exchange, and banks in Athens, Nicosia, Moscow,
Johannesburg,
     Beirut, Tel Aviv, Zurich, and Vaduz. The US also engaged in network

penetrations in
     Yugoslavia during the NATO war against that country.
     Why doesn't NPR, CBS, ABC, NBC and the others focus on what the US
is doing to
     disrupt the Internet? They are instead falling into a familiar
Pentagon trap of deception
     and diversion.


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