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IP: GAO report criticizes DoD SBU computer security
From: Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Thu, 23 May 1996 08:23:14 -0400
Date: Thu, 23 May 96 07:43:38 EDT From: landwehr () itd nrl navy mil (Carl Landwehr) To: farber () central cis upenn edu For IP list, if you think it of interest. I suspect newspapers may carry reports today. I wrote this item for the IEEE Cipher newsletter, at http://www.itd.nrl.navy.mil/ITD/5540/ieee/cipher from the CSPAN2 rebroadcast. --Carl Landwehr [22 May 1996] Testifying before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, General Accounting Office (GAO) representatives Keith Rhodes and Jack Brock released a report criticizing security in DoD computer systems holding sensitive but unclassified (SBU) information. According to the testimony, the DoD estimated that these systems are subjected to a total of about 250,000 "probes" each year, although this number was acknowledged to be only a guess. The testimony indicated that about 65% of in-house attempts to penetrate these systems succeeded (a somewhat lower fraction than previously reported), that only a small fraction of these penetrations were detected, and that a similarly small fraction of detected penetrations were reported. The report calls for improved training of system administrators and other measures to improve the security of these systems. The report was said to be available at the http://www.gao.gov/>GAO web site, but at this writing (22 May), the site was not responding to attempts to gain access to it. Jim Christy of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations described an intrusion in spring 1994 into the Air Force Rome Laboratory's computer systems about two years ago by a 16-year old UK youth known as "Datastream," who was apprehended. Another hacker involved, known as "Kuji" who was never located. The reported cost of recovering from the intrustion was about $500,000. Planned testimony by Cliff Stoll, Peter Neumann, and Robert Anderson was postponed when committee members had to return to the Senate floor to vote.
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- IP: GAO report criticizes DoD SBU computer security Dave Farber (May 23)