Originally posted on sciy.org by Ron Anastasia on Fri 06 Oct 2006 05:02 PM PDT
Chinese Hack Attack on Security
Hackers linked to China take offline Bureau of Industry and Security.
October 6, 2006
A U.S. Commerce Department bureau has been under siege from hackers operating from
The
Bureau of Industry and Security, which controls exports of commodities
and technology, was affected in the attacks from hackers with links to
Chinese Internet service providers.
“They discovered a targeted effort to gain access to user accounts,†Commerce Department spokesman Richard Mills said.
The department has, however, not seen any of its data lost or compromised, he said. BIS "took a series of immediate action steps to ensure that no data is compromised,†Mr. Mills said.
Mr. Mills, however, declined to elaborate on the nature of the attacks.
While the bureau hasn’t specified details of the attack, it has said the hackers are coming from servers in
The
BIS has restricted Internet access to standalone workstations that are
not connected to any of its systems. It also plans to revamp its
network. Instead of putting some of the existing computers that could
be infected back online, the bureau will buy and set up new
workstations.
“We will be setting up a new clean system with new clean hardware,†said Mr. Mills.
The
attack on the BIS systems comes on the heels of disclosures made by
other government departments about facing cyberthreats from
Attacks Severe
While the Commerce Department downplayed the attacks, others were skeptical.
“If
they are taking these computers offline and junking them, I don’t
believe they haven't lost any data,†said Eric Sites, vice president of
research and development at anti-virus firm Sunbelt Software .“This
seems to be a pretty severe attack if they are going through this level
of response, which is replacing all their systems.â€
IT managers at
the bureau would have no choice but to do that if computers were
infected with so-called root kits, or software tools that are intended
to hide running files or processes, thereby helping intruders avoid
detection.
The Commerce
Department has also labeled this as a targeted attack, something that
security experts believe is in keeping with the trend that they have
been seeing. Increasingly, hackers are moving away from launching
cyberattacks aimed at creating mayhem to initiating specific attacks
designed to steal sensitive information.
The BIS, with its dealings related to controlling access of sensitive technology, would be a prime target.
“There are known hacker groups in
Contact the writers: SMartin@RedHerring.com and PGanapati@RedHerring.com
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