Indian security analysts are worried about the terrorist
threat to the lives of our leaders such as our Prime Minister and the
Kanchi Acharya which can come in the form of a human bomb. While these threats
are real and needs to be adequately secured against, the next major terrorist
attack on US from Al Queda is expected to be from the Cyber Space.
Cyber terrorism in the world seems to have progressed far
beyond the defacement of news paper sites or Government department sites with
which we are a little familiar now. Even viruses and worms will be like harm
less Diwali crackers and not like bombs and explosives when we . The
panic created by the false rumors which created a "Run" on Global Trust Bank
was a minor terrorist act compared to what are now expected to hit the US.
A detailed report that has emanated from FBI sources in USA
now indicate a massive plan that Al Queda terrorists are planning to attack
critical infrastructure in USA such as Power Supply, Water Supply, Dam
Control, Nuclear Power Plants, Emergency Electrical and Phone Services etc.
The result could be that the sluice gates of a dam can be thrown wide open,
power, water supply and communication may break down on a large scale and
wide spread chaos can be created.
If this is supplemented with a simultaneous
traditional terrorist attacks with explosives and biological war fare, the
country would be plunged into an unprecedented state of terror and panic. Many
people had predicted catastrophic events during the Y2K change over which
thankfully never happened. What may now happen could be far worse.
All this is not hypothetical any more. The evidence
gathered by FBI has indicated that a systematic reconnaissance was being done
by hackers emanating from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia on the
computer systems of vital installations belonging to the Government and non
Government bodies. They have also been found studying websites containing
literature on electronic control systems in power stations, hacking tools etc
and exchanging sensitive information in chat rooms.
FBI has also warned private sector companies in USA that
the Cyber terrorists may hit the Corporate sector also to destabilize the
economy and pulled them up saying that they spend more time on Coffee than on
Information Security.
Unfortunately, India is a much softer target than US for
such Cyber attacks. Our industry in particular has low awareness of the
threats and are very much under prepared to face any Cyber attacks.
It is high time that the country should wake up and
ensure that its vital electronic systems both in the civil and military
sectors as well as in infrastructure establishments such as the Railways and
the Airlines are well protected.
It is also necessary for private sector companies to also
shore up their network security systems so that their networks are not used as
Zombies in an indirect attack such as use of TCS network to hit BEST control
systems, or VSNL network to gain access to Government networks using
trusted Intranet and Extranet pathways.
Naavi
June 28, 2002
Related Article:
Reproduced from Washington Post
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