Class III InfoWar

[winn@Infowar.Com]

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Class III Information Warfare: Has It Begun?

The June 2, 1996 Sunday Times from London front page headline reads:
"City Surrenders to L400 million Gangs"

And HERF Guns, Electromagnetic Pulses and sophisticated logic bombs may be 
responsible.

At InfoWarCon II, Montreal Canada, I made reference to investigations I was 
conducting regarding concerted and organized attacks on up to 43 financial 
institutions in Europe and the US; an example of Class III Information Warfare. 
This issue of London Sunday Times brings a glimpse of the story that will 
eventually be told.

The first attack in my files dates to January 6, 1993. A trading house in London 
was blackmailed into paying L10million to unknown extortionists who demonstrated 
they could crash the company's computers at will. The next incident in the Times 
article is also in my files: January 14, 1993 where similar demonstrations and 
demands were made for this time L12.5Million. And so is the next, January 29, 
1993 and another L10Million siphoned off by the bad guys. According to my 
figures and those in the Times article, hundreds of millions of pounds have been 
paid ransom in what is clearly an example of Class III Information Warfare.

According to officials in Washington, Whitehall, London, City of London Police, 
the National Security Agency, Kroll Associates, Bank of  England and others (in 
the article) the threats are credible. The attackers have the clear ability to 
bring trading and financial operations to a halt - exactly when they say they 
will. "Banks, brokerage firms and investment houses in America have also 
secretly paid ransom to prevent costly computer meltdowns and a collapse in the 
confidence  among their customers," sources said in the article.

The article discussed the advanced information warfare techniques used by the 
perpetrators. "According to the American National Security Agency (NSA), they 
have penetrated computer systems using 'logic bombs' (coded devices that can be 
remotely detonated), electromagnetic pulses and 'high emission radio frequency 
guns' which blow a devastating electronic 'wind' through the computer systems." 
[For a complete description of HERF Guns (coined by Schwartau in 1990), see 
"Information Warfare: Chaos on the Electronic Superhighway," Thunders Mouth 
Press, 1994] 

The perpetrators have also left encrypted messages, apparently bypassing the 
highest security levels of the systems, leaving messages such as "Now do you 
believe we can destroy your computers?" The NSA and other officials believe that 
four gangs are involved; probably one from the US and probably one from Russia. 
But, because the crimes are international, national borders still prevail, 
making investigation more difficult. Investigations and official inquiries have 
been in progress for some time according to the article.

Now, for a few things you will not see in the articlem, but will hopefully [if I 
am lucky] come out in the near future. The number of attacks is way above 40. 
They have been known about for almost three years, but only recently have people 
been willing to come out of the closet and discuss this highly sensitive issue 
with the media. Long briefs and analyses of these events have been submitted to 
high level officials and select business persons for at least a year, but to no 
avail. [Security by obscurity reigns all too often.] Banking is not the only 
industry that has been attacked and the attacks have been spread around Europe 
as well as Australia.

As an industry many of us have said that the only way something will really be 
done is if we experience a Computer Chernobyl [Peter Neumann Phrase as I recall] 
or as I first said in Congressional Testimony, An Electronic Pearl Harbor. Are 
these events the harbinger of strong reaction by the community at large? As 
events unfold and more information is permitted to be disseminated over the next 
few days and weeks, we will see.

We have essentially solved the issues of confidentiality and integrity. But, I 
have maintained that the real problem is going to be Denial of Service. These 
events are unfortunate, but clear examples of that reality. 

A Bank of England official also said of the incidents, "it is not the biggest 
issue in the banking market."  Hmmm. I have to think about that.



Peace
Winn

		        Winn Schwartau - Interpact, Inc.
		        Information Warfare and InfoSec
		       V: 813.393.6600 / F: 813.393.6361
			    Winn@InfoWar.Com