Japan wages 'cyber war' against hackers

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=002549632124328&pg=/et/00/10/24/wcyb24.html

By Juliet Hindell in Tokyo
Tuesday 24 October 2000

JAPAN is preparing to use electronic weapons to destroy the computers
of hackers trying to infiltrate the country's defence systems. The
move follows raids on government computer systems.

The Japan Defence Agency is expected to deploy the "cyber squad".
Leading computer experts will design software which will be capable of
launching anti-hacking and anti-virus attacks. In January, hackers
broke into official websites at the Science and Technology Agency and
the Management and Co-ordination Agency and left critical messages and
links to pornographic sites.

Key data, including census figures, were erased from one site. Chinese
hackers were suspected as some of the messages were in Chinese and
criticised Japan's attitude to dealing with atrocities committed by
Japanese troops during the Second World War. The incidents revealed
how vulnerable Japan's computer systems were to hackers.

Analysts remain sceptical of the government's ability to control the
internet. Successful hackers say sites are easy to access and they can
launch their own counter-attacks against the new cyber weapons.


*==============================================================*
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