Hardware viruses in addition to software viruses. Is nothing sacred?
* * * * *
Sunday, January 24Washington, D.C.
"Does he know what he's saying?" Henry Kennedy said doubtfully.
"I think so, and I also think it's a brilliant way to put a huge dent in the Japanese monopoly on integrated circuits." Marvin Jacobs had an office installed not two doors from Kennedy's in the subterranean mazes beneath the White House lawn.
"He can't blame the Japanese for everything."
"Don't you see? He's not? All he's saying is that OSO did it, and he's letting the Japanese national guilt by association take its course." Jacobs seemed pleased. "Mason's chippers will cast a shadow of doubt on everything electronic made in Japan. If it has OSO's name on it, it'll be taboo. Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Matsushita . . .all the big Nippon names will be tarnished for years."
"And you actually want this to happen?" asked Henry.
"I didn't say that," Marvin said slithering away from a policy opinion. "Hey, what are you complaining about? Mason gave us the article like you wanted, didn't he?"
"I told you there were other ways," Kennedy shot back.
"Well, for your information, there's a little more that he didn't tell us about," said Jacobs haughtily.
"And how did you find out? Pray tell?"
Marvin grinned devilishly before answering. "CMR. Van Eck.Whatever. We have Mason covered."
"You're using the same . . ."
"Which is exactly how we're going to fight these bastards."
"At the expense of privacy?"
"There is no clear cut legal status of electromagnetic emanations from computers," Marv said defensively. "Are they private? Are they free to anyone with a receiver, like a radio or TV? No one has tested the theory yet. And that's not to say we've tried to publicize it. The FCC ruled in 1990 that eavesdropping on cellu- lar telephone calls was legal. By anyone, even the government." Marvin was giving a most questionable technical practice an aura of respectability hidden behind the legal guise of freedom. Kennedy was uncomfortable with the situation, but in this case, Marv had the President's ear.
"And screw privacy, right? All in the name of national security."Henry did not approve of Marvin's tactics.
"It's been done before and it'll be done again," Marvin said fairly unconcerned with Kennedy's opinions and whining. "Citing National Security is a great antidote to political inconvenience."
"I don't agree with you, not one iota!" blasted Kennedy. "This is a democracy, and with that comes the good and the bad, and one premise of a democracy is the right to privacy. That's what shredded Nixon. Phone taps, all the time, phone taps."
"Henry, Henry," begged Marv to his old time, but more liberal minded friend. "This is legal." Marvin's almost wicked smile was not contagious. "It's not illegal either."
Kennedy frown deeply. "I think you take the NSA's charter as national listening post to an extreme," he said somberly.
"Henry, Are you going to fight me on this?" Marv asked finally.
"No," sighed Henry Kennedy. "The President gave you the task, I heard him, and I'm here to support his efforts. I don't have to agree . . .but it would help."
* * * * *
"Don't worry. The speech will make him sound like an expert, like he actually knows what he talking about. Not a man who thinks Nintendo is Japanese slang for nincompoop." Phil Musgrave called Henry Kennedy's office in the basement.
Phil joked with Henry about the President's legendary technical ineptness. One time while giving a speech to the VFW, the sound went out. Trying to be helpful, the President succeeded in plugging an 'in' into an 'out' which resulted in a minor amount of smoke, an embarrassing false security alert, and the subse- quent loss of any sound reinforcement at all.
"You know how I feel about him, Phil," said Henry with concern. "I support him 110%. But this is a new area for all of us. We don't have the contingency plans. Defense hasn't spent years studying the problem and working out the options or the various scenarios. Phil, until recently viruses and hackers were consid- ered a non-problem in the big picture."
"I know, Henry, I know, but the politicians had to rely on the experts, and they argued and argued and procrastinated . . ."
"And Congress, as usual, didn't do shit." Kennedy completed the statement. "That doesn't change the fact that he's winging it. Christ, we don't even know the questions much less the answers and, well, we know he calls 911 to change a lightbulb." His affection for the President was clear through the barb. "And you know what really pisses me off?"
"What's that?"
"Jacobs. He seems pleased with the turn of events."
"He should," agreed Phil nonchalantly. "He just won a major battle. He's got security back under his thumb. A nice politi- cal coup."
"No, not that," Henry said cautiously. "It's just that I think he's acting too much the part of the renegade. Do you know what I mean?"
"No, not at all," laughed Phil. "He's just playing it his way, not anyone elses. C'mon, now, you know that."
"I guess . . ."
"Besides, Henry," he said glancing at his watch. "It's getting to be that time." They agreed to watch the speech from the sidelines, so they could see how the President's comments were greeted by the press.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States." An assistant White House press agent made the announcement to the attendant Washington press pool. The video was picked up by the CNN cameras as it was their turn to provide a feed to the other networks. Sunday evening was an odd time to call a press confer- ence, but everyone had a pretty good idea that the subject was going to be computers. Thus far, government comments on the crisis had come from everywhere but the White House.
The President rapidly ambled up to the podium and placed his notes before him. He put on his glasses and stared at the camera somberly. It was speeches that began this way, without a prean- nounced subject matter, that caused most Americans who grew up during the Cold War to experience a sinking feeling in their stomachs. They still thought about the unthinkable. As usual the press corps was rapt with attention.
"Good evening," the President of the United States began slowly. "I am speaking to you tonight on a matter of great concern to us all. A subject of the utmost urgency to which we must address ourselves immediately.
"That subject is, information. The value of information.
"As I am sure most of you are aware, one man, Taki Homosoto, threatened the United States this last week. It is about that very subject that I wish to speak to the country, and the world." The President paused. He had just told the country what he was going to say. Now he had to say it.
"For all practical purposes, the United States is undergoing an electronic Pearl Harbor, and the target is one of the most cru- cial segments of our way of life: Information.
"Information. What is information? Information is news. Infor- mation is a book, or a movie or a television show. Information is a picture, it's a word and it's a gesture. Information is also a thought. A pure idea.
"Information is the single commodity, a common denominator upon which all industrial societies must rely. Data, facts, opinions, pictures, histories, records, charts, numbers. Whether that data is raw in nature, such as names, addresses and phone numbers, or it consists of secret governmental strategies and policies or proprietary business details, information is the key building block upon which modern society functions.
"Information is the lifeblood of the United States and the world.
"As first steam, and then coal and then gas and oil, now informa- tion has become an integral driving force of the economy. Without information, our systems begin to collapse. How can modern society function without information and the computers that make America what it is? Effectively there are no longer any nationalistic boundaries that governments create. Information has become a global commodity. What would our respective cul- tures look like if information was no longer available?
"We would not be able to predict the weather. Credit cards would be worthless pieces of plastic. We would save less lives without enough information and the means to analyze it. We need massive amounts of information to make informed decisions in government policies and actions.
"What if banks could no longer transfer money because the comput- ers were empty? How could the airlines fly if there were no pas- senger records? What good is an insurance company if its clients names are nowhere on file? If there was no phone book, who could you call? If hospitals had no files on your medical history, what treatment is required? With a little effort, one can imag- ine how difficult it would be to run this planet without informa- tion.
"Information, in short, is both a global and a national strate- gic asset that is currently under attack.
"Information and the information processing industry has come to represent a highly significant piece of our gross national product; indeed, the way we live as Americans, enjoying the highest standard of living in the world, is due in large part to the extraordinary ability of having information at our fingertips in a second's notice. Anything we want in the form of informa- tion can literally be brought into our homes; cable television, direct satellite connections from the back yard. The Library of Congress, and a thousand and one other sources of information are at our fingertips from our living room chair.
"Without information, without the machinery that allows the information to remain available, a veritable national electronic library, the United States steps back thirty years.
"Information is as much a strategic weapon in today's world as is the gun or other conventional armaments. Corporate successes are often based upon well organized data banks and analytic tech- niques. Government functions, and assuredly the Cold War was fought, on the premise that one side has more accurate informa- tion than its adversary. Certainly academia requires the avail- ability of information across all disciplines. Too, the public in general relies upon widespread dissemination of information for even the simplest day to day activities.
"It is almost inconceivable that society could function as we know it without the data processing systems upon which we rely.
"It is with these thoughts that those more expert than I can speak at length, but we must realize and accept the responsibili- ty for protecting that information. Unfortunately, we as trust- ing Americans, have allowed a complacency to overshadow prudent pragmatism.
"Over the last weeks we have begun to see the results of our complacency. The veins of the nation, the free flow of informa- tion, is being poisoned.
"Both the government and the private sector are to blame for our state of disarray and lack of preparedness in dealing with the current crisis. We must be willing, individually and collective- ly, to admit that we are all at fault, then we must fix the problem, make the sacrifice and then put it behind us.
"It is impossible for the Government to deny that we have failed miserably in our information security and privacy implementation. Likewise, the value of the accumulation of information by the private sector was overlooked by everybody. Fifteen years ago, who could have possibly imagined that the number of businesses relying on computers would have jumped more than a hundred thou- sand fold.
"Today, the backbone of America, the small businessman, 20,000,000 strong, the one man shop, provides more jobs than the Fortune 1000. And, the small businessman has come to rely on his computer as Big Business has for decades. His survival, his success is as critical to the stability of the United States' economy as is a General Motors or an IBM. We must defend the small business as surely as we must defend our international competitiveness of industrial leaders.
"The wealth of this country was once in steel mills, in auto plants, in manufacturing. The products built by the United States were second to none. Made in the U.S.A. was a proud label, one that carried a premium worldwide. Our technological leadership has never been in question and has been the envy of the world for over 200 years. Franklin, Fulton and Edison. The Wright Brothers, Westinghouse, Ford. As a nation the Manhattan Project reaffirmed our leadership. Then Yaeger and the speed of sound. The transistor. DNA decoded. The microchip. The Moon. The computer.
"Yet there was a subtle shift occurring that escaped all but the most vigilant. We were making less things, our concentration on manufacturing was slowly shifting to an emphasis on technology. Communications, computers. Information processing. No longer are cities built around smokestacks spewing forth the byproducts of the manufacturing process. Instead, industrial parks sprout in garden-like settings that encourage mental creativity. Fifteen percent of the American workforce no longer drive to the office. They commute via their computers at home.
"The excitement of the breakneck pace of technology masked the danger in which we were placing ourselves. Without realizing it, a bulk of this nation's tangible wealth was being moved to the contents of a computer's memory. We took those first steps toward computerization hesitantly; we didn't trust the computer. It was unfamiliar, foreign, alien. But when we embraced the computer, we unquestioningly entrusted it with out most precious secrets.
"Unlike the factory though, with the fence, the gates, the dogs, the alarms and the night guards, we left our computers unprotect- ed. Growing bigger and faster computers took precedence over protecting their contents.
"We were warned, many times. But, as I said earlier, neither your government nor its constituency heeded the warnings with enough diligence. Protection of government information became a back-burner issue, a political hot cake, that in budget crunches, was easy to overlook. Overclassification of information became the case of the 'The Spy Who Cried Wolf.' The classification system has been abused and clearly does not serve us well. At my direction it will receive a thorough overhaul.
"Personal privacy has been ignored. Your government is in pos- session of huge amounts of data and yet there is no effort at protecting the non-classified privacy of individuals in our computers.
"The private sector faces another dilemma. The unresponsiveness of the Federal Government to the protection of its own informa- tion did not set a good example for industry, and their comput- ers, too, remained vulnerable.
The President paused from reading his speech to pour a glass of ice water.
"Nothing can stop the fact that the United States is under at- tack. Nothing can change the fact that the attack cannot be turned away. And nothing can change the fact that America will suffer significant disruptions and inconvenience for some time. But we can minimize the damage. We can prepare for the inevita- ble obstacles we will face.
"The poison that Mr. Homosoto put into the American information society is the equivalent of electronic biological warfare. He has senselessly and vengefully struck out against the United States in a manner that I describe as an act of war.
"In order to deal with this real threat to the security of the United States of America, I have taken several steps that are designed to assist in weathering the storm.
"First, I am assigning the Director of the National Security Agency to coordinate all efforts at defending against and mini- mizing the effects of the current crisis. The NSA has the expe- rience and resources, and the support of this President to manage an operation of this complexity and importance. In addition, representatives from GCHQ in the United Kingdom and other ITSEC members from Germany, France and Holland will coordinate European defensive strategies.
"Second, I am activating the following four groups to assist the NSA in their efforts. ECCO, the Emergency Computer Crisis Organ- ization, has acted as an advisor to law enforcement agencies across the country and has been instrumental in providing the technical support to the FBI and the Secret Service in their computer crime investigations.
"CERT, the Computer Emergency Response Team was created by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as an outgrowth of the 1988 INTERNET Worm incident. Carnegie Mellon University where CERT is headquartered has donated the facilities and staff of their Software Engineering Institute to deal with the invasion of our computers.
"The Defense Data Network Security Coordination Center was based at the Stanford Research Institute by the Defense Communications Agency to coordinate attacks against non-classified computer systems.
"Lastly, CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Capability manages computer crises for the Department of Energy at Lawrence Liver- more Laboratories.
"These are the organizations and the people who will guide us through the coming adversities. It is they who are responsible to insure that America never again finds itself so vulnerable. So open to attack. So helpless in our technological Achilles Heel.
"The organizations I mentioned, and the government itself have not yet been tested in a crisis of significant magnitude. This is their maiden voyage, so to speak, and it is incumbent on us, the American people, to make their job as easy as we can by offering our complete cooperation.
"And, tonight, that is what I am asking of you. Your assistance. Your government cannot do it alone. Nor can small localized individual efforts expect to be successful against an army of invaders so large. We must team together, act as one, for the good of the entire country. From the big business with 100,000 computers to the millions of men, women and children with a home computer; from the small businessman to the schools, we need to come together against the common enemy: the invasion of our privacy and way of life.
"Americans come together in a crisis, and my fellow Americans, we face a crisis. Let me tell you what my advisors tell me. They tell me without taking immediate drastic steps to prevent further destruction of America's information infrastructure, we face a depression as great as the one of the 1930's.
"They tell me that every computer in the country, most in Canada, a significant number in England and other countries, can expect to be attacked in some manner within two years. That represents over 70 million casualties!
"The international financial and monetary system will come to a halt and collapse. Financial trading as we know it will cease and wild speculative fluctuations will dominate the world curren- cy markets. America is already feeling the change since the ATM networks were removed from service.
"As we have seen, the transportation facilities of this country, and indeed the world, are totally dependent on computers and therefore vulnerable. That is why today we take so seriously the threats against the airlines. There is no choice but success. Together, the American people must stand up to this threat and not succumb to its effects.
"While your government has the resources to develop solutions to the problems, it has not been within our power to mandate their use in the private sector.
"We will need unity as never before, for the battleground is in our homes, our schools, our streets and our businesses. The children of this great country will have as much opportunity to contribute as their parents will, and as the leaders of business will. As we all will and all must.
"In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, the very structure of our country is in imminent danger of collapse, and it is up to us, indeed it is within our power, to survive. The sacrifices we will be called upon to make may be great, but the alternative is unacceptable.
"Indeed, this is a time where the American spirit is called upon to shine, and shine brightly. Thank you, and God Bless the United States of America."
* * * * *
Sunday, January 24Scarsdale, New York
"One fuckuva speech," Tyrone Duncan said to Scott Mason who was downing the last of a Coors Light. "You should be proud of yourself." They had watched the President's speech on Scott's large screen TV.
"Ahhhh," grunted Scott. "It's almost anti-climatic."
"How the hell can you say that?" Tyrone objected. "Isn't this what you've been trying to do? Get people to focus on the prob- lem? Christ, you can't do much more than a Presidential speech."
"Oh, yeah," agreed Scott cynically. "Everyone knows, but not a damn thing's gonna be done about it. Nothing. I don't care what the President says, nothing's going to change."
"You have become one cynical bastard. Even Congress is behind the President on this one. His post-speech popularity is over 70% according to CNN's Rapid Sample Poll."
"CNN. Bah, Humbug. Sensationalist news. And you think the proposed computer crime bills will pass?" Scott asked doubtfully.
Tyrone hesitated. "Sure, I think so. And you don't?"
"No, I don't. At least not in any meaningful way. C'mon, you're the constitutionalist not me. Sure, the original authors of the bill will write something with punch, maybe even effective. But by the time it gets committee'd to death, it'll be another piece of meaningless watered down piece of shit legislation. And that's before the states decide that computer crime is a state problem and not an inter-state issue. They'll say Uncle Sam is treading on their turf and put up one helluva stink." Scott shook his head discouragingly. "I see nothing but headaches."
"I think you just feel left out, like your job's done and you have nothing to do anymore. Post partum depression." Ty rose from the comfortable leather reading chair to get a couple more beers. "I kind of know how you feel."
Scott looked up at Tyrone in bewilderment. "You do? How?"
"I'm definitely leaving. We've made up my mind." Tyrone craned his neck from the kitchen. "Arlene and I, that is." Tyrone came back and threw a silver bullet at Scott. "This part of my life is over and it's time I move on to something else."
"Computers and the Law I suppose?" Scott said drearily.
"Don't make it sound like the plague," Tyrone laughed. "I'm doing it because I want to, and it's needed. In fact I would expect a good amount of the work to be pioneering. Pro bono. There's no case history; it'll be precedent setting law. I figure someone's got to be there to keep it honest. And who better than . . ." Tyrone spread his arms around the back of the chair.
"You, I know. The great byte hope." Scott laughed at his own joke which triggered a similar response from Tyrone. "Hey, man. I wish you all the best, if that's what you really want."
A sudden beeping began. "What's that?" asked Tyrone.
"A computer begging for attention. Let me see who it is." Tyrone followed Scott into his office, still astonished that anyone could work in such a pig pen. And the rest of the house was so neat.
<<<<<
The computer screen held the image of the single word while whoever was calling caused Scott's computer to beep incessantly.
"What the hell?" Scott said out loud as he pecked at the keyboard standing rather than sitting at his desk.
wtfo
kirk?
Excuse me?
Of course. I have a mild interest in the subject.
Why?
I have a guest.
friend. definitely.
I can fake it.
To Tyrone's amazement, Scott seemed to know what he was doing at the computer. Scott sat down, put his electronic conversation with Kirk on hold, and called up another program as the colorful screen split into two.
I got you on the bottom window.
Maybe I'll just listen.
The top window on Scott's computer screen blinked off momentarily and then was filled with a the words from the dissident phreaks.
AND WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? <
B THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT IS JUST TRYING TO TAKE OVER. THE BILLOF RIGHTS IS GOING RIGHT DOWN THE SHITTER <
I AGREE. THEY LOOK FOR ANY EXCUSE TO TAKE AWAY ANY FREEDOM WEMAY HAVE LEFT AND THEY TOOK THIS HOMOSOTO THING AND BLEW IT RIGHTOUT OF PROPORTION. JUST LIKE VIETNAM. <
YOU DON'T BELIEVE THAT, DO YOU? <
YOU BET YOUR SWEET ASS I DO. SINCE WHEN HAS THE GOVERNMENT GIVENA SHIT ABOUT US? ONLY SINCE THEY REALIZED WE HAVE POWER WITHOUTTHEM. THEY'RE NO LONGER IN CONTROL AND THEY'LL DO ANYTHING THEYHAVE TO TO GET IT BACK. <
I DON'T THINK THAT IT'LL BE THAT BAD <
YOU BEEN HANGING OUT WITH THAT MASON GUY TOO MUCH <
CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY. HE'S LISTENING <
ALL THE BETTER. HE'S AS BAD AS THE FEDS. <
May I say something?
I must beg to differ with Phaser with a question.
IT'S YOUR DIME. <
Believe me, I understand that you guys have a point, about hack-ing and the free flow of information. But who's in control now?From my viewpoint, it's not you and it's not the government. It'sHomosoto.
SO? <
So, if freedom is the issue as you say, I assume that you want to keep your electronic freedom at all costs.
RIGHT! <
THAT'S THE POINT <
Therefore, regardless of your opinions, you must realize that the government will do everything it thinks it needs to do to protect the country.
MAKE YOUR POINT. <
It seems to me that the best way for you to keep the electronic freedom you crave, might be to help fight Homosoto and the vi- ruses and all. Minimize the damage, help defend the Global Network.
HE MAKES A POINT. I'VE HELPED. <
THEN WE FALL INTO THEIR TRAP. SAVE IT ALL AND THEN THEY CLOSE
DOWN THE NETWORK. I CAN'T PLAY INTO THEIR DECEIT AND TREACHERY.
<
DO YOU THINK THE FREEDOM LEAGUE IS DOING GOOD? <
OF COURSE NOT. <
That's Homosoto. Thousands of viruses. NEMO already helped.
ONLY THOSE THAT AGREE. WE ARE NOT A DEMOCRACY. <
SO YOU DON'T WANT TO FIGHT THE VIRUSES? <
NOT YOU, TOO? <
IT'S A MATTER OF RIGHT AND WRONG. ELECTRONIC FREEDOM, ANARCHY ISONE THING. BUT WE DO NOT ABUSE. WE LIVE BY THE CODE AND WANT TOKEEP THE NETWORK OPEN. HOMOSOTO WANTS TO CLOSE THE NETWORK DOWN.BY SCARE TACTICS. <
THAT DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT THE FASCIST GOVERNMENT WILLTAKE EVERYTHING AWAY. <
Only if they have to. Wouldn't you rather help and keep that from happening?
IF I TRUSTED THE GOVERNMENT. <
Can I introduce you to someone? His handle is FBI.
KIRK, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, GIVING US AWAY? <
THEY'RE TIED IN ON MIRAGE. THEY CAN PLAY BUT THERE'S NO REDIAL.
<
Gentlemen, this is the FBI. Let me tell you something. I don't agree with hacking, theft of service and the like. But I also am pragmatic. I recognize the difference between the lesser of two evils. And as of today, based upon what I know, you guys are a pain the ass, but not a threat to national security. That is why Washington has taken little interest in your activities. But at the same time, you are part of an underground that has access to the electronic jungle in which we find ourselves. We would like your help.
OFFICIALLY? <
No, unofficially. I am law enforcement, associated with ECCO, if you've ever heard of them.
ECCO. YOU GUYS FIGHT THE REAL COMPUTER JERKS, DON'T YOU? LIKEROBERT MORRIS AND PUNJAB. DID YOU EVER CATCH THE GUY WHO STOPPEDTHE SHUTTLE FLIGHT? <
Sadly, no. I am talking to you as a friend of Scott's. And I will tell you, that anything I learn I will use to fight Homoso- to's attack. But frankly, you are little fish. I don't know who you are, nor do I really care. In all honesty, neither does Washington, the NSA or anyone else. You're merely an underground protest group. If anything, you help keep us honest. But even protestors should have their limits.
MINE HAS BEEN REACHED. <
AND MINE. <
There is a big difference between freedom of speech and insurrec- tion and invasion.
WHAT ABOUT PRIVACY? <
THERE IS NONE, AND YOU KNOW IT. <
THAT'S THE POINT. WE HAVE TO STOP THE MILITARISTIC WAR MONGERSFROM PRYING INTO OUR LIVES. THEY KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT US, ANDMORE. I WANT TO SEE THAT STOPPED. NOW. <
This is Mason. At the expense of true freedom? Freedom of choice? By your logic, you may end up with no Compuserve. No electronic mail boxes. No networks. Or, they'll be so restricted that you'll never get on them.
IT'LL HAPPEN ANYWAY. <
And you'll just speed up the process. What do you have to lose by helping out?
I WANT TO CONTINUE HELPING. MY FREEDOM TO HACK RESPONSIBLY IS INDANGER BY ONE MAN, AND I AIM ON KEEPING MY FREEDOM. <
It may be the only way to keep the digital highways open, I'm sorry to say.
IS THAT A THREAT? <
Merely an observation.
I NEED TO THINK. <
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW? <
A lot. We need a complete list of phone numbers for every Free- dom BBS. They provide wide distribution of infected software.
WE KNOW. BFD. <
This is FBI. We want to shut them down.
HOW? <
We have our means.
SEE WHAT I MEAN! THEY'RE ALL PIGS. THEY TAKE, TAKE, TAKE. BUTIF YOU ASK SOMETHING THEY CLAM UP. <
All right. If it works you'll find out anyway. There are a number of underused laws, and we want to keep this on a Federal level. USC 1029, 1030, 2134 - they're a bunch of them including racketeering. Then there are a number of Federal laws against doing anything injurious to the United States.
WHICH GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO PROSECUTE ANYONE YOU DAMN WELLPLEASE WHENEVER YOU DAMN WELL WANT. <
As a lawyer, I could make that case.
I AM A LAWYER, TOO. I PHREAK FOR PHREEDOM. <
Then you also know, that you have to really be on someone's shit list to get the FBI after you. Right now, Homosoto and his gang are on our shit list big time.
THEN WHEN YOU'RE THROUGH WITH THEM, IT'S US NEXT. THEN WHO'SLEFT? <
RIGHT. <
We can argue forever. All I'm saying is we could use whatever help you can give us. And I honestly don't care who you are. Unless of course you're on my shit list.
FBI HUMOR. <
WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED? <
As many signatures as possible. We figure that there are thou- sands of you out there, and you can probably do a better job than any government security group punching in at nine and out at five. You have more people, no bureaucracy and a bigger sample of the software population.
SIGNATURES? NO QUESTIONS ASKED? <
None. Also, rumors.
WHAT KIND OF RUMORS? <
Like who might want to disrupt the Air Reservations System.
YOU'RE KIDDING? <
I wish I was. You see, we are up against the wall.
THAT COULD REALLY FUCK THINGS UP. <
REALLY! <
IS IT REALLY THAT BAD? <
Worse.
MAYBE I'LL THINK ABOUT IT. <
ME TOO. <
MASON. I'M GOING TO CUT YOU OFF. <
It won't be the first time.
<<<<<
Tyrone stretched his limbs searching for a bare place to sit down. Leaning over Scott's shoulders for the slow paced computer conversation stiffened his muscles. Scott motioned to slide whatever was in the way, out of the way, to which Tyrone com- plied.
"Dedicated mother fuckers. Misguided, but dedicated." Ty sat back in thought. "What do you think they'll do?"
"I don't think, I know," said Scott confidently. "Most of them will help, but they won't admit it. They openly distrust you, Washington and me. But they value their freedom, and instinc- tively they will protect that. Kirk will be the conduit. I'm not worried."
"And what will they do?"
"Once they get around to it, they'll commandeer every hacker in the country and at least stop the viruses. Or some of them. I think that we need to elicit their trust, and I can do that by giving them more than they give me."
"Can you do that?"
"Just watch. If they play their cards right, they can be heroes."
****************************************************************
We had a pretty good handle on parts of it," said Marvin Jacobs glibly.
Phil Musgrave, Martin Royce, Henry Kennedy and Quinton Chambers joined Marvin in one of the private White House conference rooms at 5 A.M. Jacobs had called all members of the inner circle, personally, early that morning. He had received word that last evening's computer conversations between Scott Mason and the Spook had been intercepted and the preliminary analysis was ready.
Scott Mason's computer screens had been read by the NSA's remote electromagnetic receivers while he prepared his article for the following day. The actual article had also been transmitted to the White House, prior to publication, as agreed.
"And Mason seems to be living up to his part of the bargain,"Jacobs continued. "He only edits out the bullshit, pardon myFrench. Gives the public their money's worth."
"You said we were close. How close?" Musgrave tended to run these meetings; it was one of the perks of being the President's Number One.
"His organization was a lot more comprehensive than we thought," Henry Kennedy said. "We underestimated his capabilities, but we caught the essence of his weapons by good guessing."
"If we could get our hands on this Spook character," sighed Martin Royce. He was thinking of the perennial problems associ- ated with identifying the exact location of someone who doesn't want to be found.
"That's not the problem," said Chief of Staff Phil Musgrave. "We know who the Spook is, but we can't prove it. It's only hearsay, even with Mason's testimony, and it's a pretty damn safe bet he won't be inclined to testify. But Marv has given us a ton on him. After all, he is Marv's fault."
"You guys sort that out on your own time," yawned Phil. "For now, though we need to know what we're up against."
"If the President hadn't gone on television last night, we might have been able to keep this quiet and give the press some answers in a few days." Marv said.
"Dream on," Phil said emphatically. "Mason broke the story and we were caught with our pants down. The President did not, and I repeat, did not, want to be associated with any cover up . . ."
"I didn't say cover up . . ."
"He wants to take his lumps and fix it. He will not lie to theAmerican people."
"If we shut Mason up." Marv suggested.
"We need him right where he is," Henry Kennedy said about Scott to stem the escalating argument.
"The subject is closed." Phil's comment silenced the room. After all was said and done, Musgrave was the closet thing to the President in the room. As with the President, the discussion was over, the policy set, now let's get on with it. "So, Marv? What are we up against."
The seasoned professional in Marvin Jacobs took over, conflicting opinions in the past, and he handed out a series of TOP SECRET briefing folders.
"You've got to be kidding," laughed Martin Royce holding up his file. "This stuff will be in today's morning paper and you classify it?"
"There are guidelines for classification," Marvin insisted. "We follow them to the letter."
"And every letter gets classified." muttered Royce under his breath. The pragmatist in him saw the lunacy of the classifica- tion process, but the civil servant in him recognized the impos- sibility of changing it. Marv ignored the comment and opened his folder.
"Thanks, Phil," began Marv. "Well, I'll give it to him, Foster that is. If what he says is accurate, we have our work cut out for us, and in many cases all we can do is board up our windows before the hurricane hits."
"For purposes of this discussion, assume, as we will, that the Spook, Foster, is telling the truth. Do we have any reason to disbelieve him?"
"Other than attacking his own country? No, no reason at all." Marvin showed total disdain for Foster. His vehemence quieted the room, so he picked up where he left off.
"The first thing he did was establish a communications network, courtesy of AT&T. If Foster is right, then his boys have more doors and windows in and out of the phone company computers than AT&T knows exist. For all intents and purposes, they can do anything with the phone system that they want.
"They assign their own numbers, tap into digital transmissions, reprogram the main switches, create drop-dead billings, keep unlimited access lines and Operator Control. If we do locate a conversation, they're using a very sophisticated encryption scheme to disguise their communications. They're using the same bag of tricks we tried to classify over 20 years ago, and if anyone had listened . . ."
"We get the point, Marv," Phil said just before Henry was about to say the same thing.
"We can triangulate the cell phone location, but it takes time. Perhaps the smartest thing Foster did was recognize the need for an efficient distribution system. In order for his plan to work, he had to insure that every computer in the country was infected."
"Thus the dGraph situation?" Quinton Chambers finally began to look awake.
"And the Lotus Viruses, and the Freedom software," Henry said."What about FTS-2000?" He was asking about the new multi-billiondollar voice and data communications network. FTS stands forFederal Telecommunications System.
"I have no doubt that it's in the same boat," suggested Marv. "But we have no sure data yet. We should ask Scott to ask Fos- ter."
"What could happen?"
"Worst case? The government shuts down for lack of interest and no dial tone."
"And these viruses?"
"According to Foster, they designed over 8,000 viruses and he assumes that all or most of them have been released over the last several years," Marv said to a room full of raised eyebrows.
"How bad is that?" asked Chambers.
"Let's put it this way," said Marv. "In the last 14 years, of the viruses that have been confirmed, the longest gestation period, from release to detonation . . .was eight months. And that one was discovered a couple of weeks after they were re- leased. What Foster counted on was the fact that if software behaved normally, it wouldn't be suspect. And if it became popular, it was automatically above suspicion. He was right."
"I've heard that every computer is infected?"
"At the minimum, yes." Jacobs turned the pages of his dossier. "To continue, one of Foster's most important tools was the con- struction of road maps."
"Road maps?" questioned Phil.
"Connections, how it all ties together. How MILNET ties to INTERNET to DARPANET to DockMaster, then to the Universities." Marv wove a complex picture of how millions of computers are all interconnected. "Foster knew what he was doing. He called this group Mappers. The maps included the private nets, CompuServe, The Source, Gemini, Prodigy . . .BBS's to Tymenet . . .the lists go on forever. The road maps, according to Foster, were very detailed. The kind of computer, the operating system, what kind of security if any. They apparently raked through the hacker bulletin boards and complied massive lists of passwords for computers . . ."
"Including ours?" asked Quinton Chambers.
"Quite definitely. They kept files on the back doors, the trap doors and the system holes so they could enter computers unde- tected, or infect the files or erase them . . .take a look at Social Security and the IRS. Martin?"
Treasury Secretary Royce nodded in strong agreement. "We got hit but good. We still have no idea how many hundreds of thousands of tax records are gone forever, if they were ever there. So far it's been kept under wraps, but I don't know how long that can continue. The CDN has been nothing but trouble. We're actually worse off with it than without it."
"How can one person do all of that?" Chambers had little knowl- edge of computers, but he was getting a pretty good feel for the potential political fallout.
"One person! Ha!" exclaimed Jacobs. "Look at Page 16." He pointed at his copy of the Secret documents. "According to Foster he told Homosoto he needed hundreds of full time mappers to draw an accurate and worthwhile picture of the communications and networks in the U.S.."
"That's a lot of money right there," added Royce.
"It's obvious that money wasn't a consideration." Phil spouted the current political party line as well as it was understood. "Retaliation against the United States was the motivation, and to hell with the cost."
"Homosoto obviously took Foster's advice when it came to Propa- ganda," Marv continued. "The FBI, I believe, saw the results of a concentrated effort at creating distrust in computers. We've got a team working on just finding the blackmailers. Their version of a disinformation campaign was to spread the truth, the secret undeniable truths of those who most want to keep their secrets a secret."
"That's also where the banks got hit so hard," offered Henry Kennedy. "Tens of thousands of credit card numbers were spirited away from bank computers everywhere. You can imagine the shock when tens of millions of dollars of purchases were contested by the legitimate credit card holders."
"It's bad," agreed Royce.
"And we haven't even seen the beginning yet, if we believe Fos- ter. There were other groups. Some specialized in Tempest-Bust- ing . . ."
"Excuse me?" asked Quinton Chambers.
"Reading the signals broadcast by computers," Marv said with some derision. The Secretary of State should know better, he thought. "It's a classified Defense program." He paused while Chambers made a note. "Others used stolen EMP-T bomb technology to blow up the Stock Exchange and they even had antennas to focus HERF . . ."
"HERF?" laughed Phil.
"HERF," said Marv defensively. "High Energy Radiated Fields. Pick a frequency, add an antenna, point and shoot. Poof! Your computer's history."
"You're kidding me . . ."
"No joke. We and the Soviets did it for years; Cold War Games," said Kennedy. "Pretty hush-hush stuff. We have hand held electric guns that will stop a car cold at a thousand yards."
"Phasers?" asked Chambers.
"Sort of, Quinton," chimed in Phil.
"Foster's plan also called for moles to be placed within strate- gic organizations, civilian and government." Marv continued. "They were to design and release malicious software from inside the company. Powerful technique if you can find enough bodies for the dirty work."
"Again, according to Foster, Homosoto said that there was never a manpower problem," Marv said. "He's confident that an Arab group is involved somewhere. The MacDonald's accident was caused by Arabs who . . ."
"And we still can't get shit out of the one who we're holding. The only one that's left. Troubleaux was shot by an Arab . . .the FBI is working hard on that angle. They've given themselves extraordinary covers." Phil was always on top of those things that might have a political cause and/or effect. "How extensive an operation was this?"
Marvin Jacobs ruffled through some notes in his files. "It's hard to be sure. If Homosoto followed all of Foster's plan, I would guess 3 - 5,000 people, with a cost of between $100 - $300 Mil- lion. But mind you, that's an uneducated guesstimate."
Quinton Chambers dropped his pen on the table. "Are you telling us that one man is bringing the United States virtually to its knees for a couple of hundred million?" Marv reluctantly nodded. "Gentlemen, this is incredible, more than incredible . . .does the President know?"
Even Phil Musgrave was antsy with the answer to that question. "Not in any detail, but he is very concerned. As for the cost, terrorism has never been considered expensive."
"Well thank you Ron Ziegler, for that piece of information," scowled Chambers. "So if we know all of this, why don't we pick 'em all up and get this over with and everything working again?"
"Foster claims he doesn't know who anyone other than Homosoto is. He was kept in the dark. That is certainly not inconsistent with the way Homosoto is known to do business - very compartmental- ized. He didn't do the recruitment, he said, and all communica- tions were done over the computer . . .no faces, no names. If it wasn't for Mason, we wouldn't even know that Foster is the Spook. I consider us very lucky on that point alone."
"What are we going to do? What can we do?" Royce and Chambers both sounded and looked more concerned than the others. Their agencies were on the front line and the most visible to the public.
"For the government we can take some mandatory precautions. For the private sector, probably nothing . . ."
"Unless." Phil said quietly.
"Unless what?" All heads turned to Phil Musgrave.
"Unless the President invokes martial law to protect the country and takes control of the computers until we can respond." Phil often thought out loud, even with his extremist possibilities.
"Good idea!" said Jacobs quickly.
"You think that public will buy that?" asked Chambers.
"No, but they may have no choice."
* * * * *
Tuesday, January 26
PRESIDENT DECLARES WAR ON COMPUTERSBy Scott Mason
Support for the President's Sunday night call to arms has been virtually unanimous by industry leaders.
According to James Worthington, Director of Computing Services at First National Life, "We take the threat to our computers very seriously. Without the reliable operation of our MIS systems, our customers cannot be serviced and the company will suffer tremendous losses. Rates will undoubtedly rise unless we protect ourselves."
Similar sentiments were echoed by most industry leaders. IBM announced it would be closing all of its computer centers for between two and four weeks to effect a complete cleansing of all systems and products. A spokesperson for IBM said, "If our computers are threatened, we will take all necessary steps to protect our investment and the confidence of our customers. IBM prefers a short term disruption in normal services to a long term failure."
Well placed persons within the government concur that the NSA, who is responsible for guiding the country through the current computer crisis, is ideally suited for managing the situation. Even agencies who have in the past been critical of the super- secret NSA are praising their preliminary efforts and recommenda- tions to deal with the emergency.
In a several page document issued by the NSA, a series of safe- guards is outlined to protect computers against many of the threats they now face. In addition, the NSA has asked all long distance carriers to, effective immediately, deny service to any digital communications until further notice. Despite high marks for the NSA in other areas, many of their defensive recommenda- tions have not been so well received.
"We are actually receiving more help from the public BBS's and local hacker groups in finding and eradicating the viruses than from the NSA or ECCO," said the Arnold Fullerman, Vice President of Computer Services at Prudential.
AT&T is also critical of the government's efforts. "The Presi- dential Order gives the NSA virtual control over the use of our long distance services. Without the ability to transmit digital data packets, we can expect a severely negative impact on our first quarter earnings . . ." While neither AT&T nor the other long distance carriers indicated they would defy the executive decree, they did say that their attorneys were investigating the legality of the mandate.
The NSA, though, was quick to respond to criticism. "All the NSA and its policies are trying to achieve is a massive reduction in the rate of propagation of the Homosoto Viruses, eliminate fur- ther infection, so we can isolate and immunize as many computers as possible. This will be a short term situation only." De- tractors vocally dispute that argument.
AT&T, Northern TelCom and most telephone manufacturers are taking additional steps in protecting one of Homosoto's key targets: Public and Private Branch Exchanges, PBX's, or phone switches. They have all developed additional security recommendations for customers to keep Phone Phreaks from utilizing the circuits without authorization. Telephone fraud alone reached an estimat- ed $14 Billion last year, with the courts upholding that custom- ers whose phones were misused are still liable for all bills. Large companies have responded by not paying the bills and with lawsuits.
The NSA is further recommending federal legislation to mitigate the effects of future computer attacks. They propose that com- puter security be required by law.
"We feel that it would be prudent to ask the private sector to comply with minimum security levels. The C2 level is easy to reach, and will deter all but the most dedicated assaults. It is our belief that as all cars are manufactured with safety items such as seat belts, all computer should be manufactured with security and information integrity mechanisms in place. C2 level will meet 99% of the public's needs." A spokesman for ECCO, one of the emergency computer organizations working with the NSA explained that such security levels available outside of the highest government levels range from D Level, the weakest, to A Level, the strongest.
It is estimated that compliance with such recommendations will add no more than $50 to the cost of each computer.
The types of organizations that the NSA recommend secure its computers by law is extensive, and is meeting with some vocal opposition:
Companies with more than 6 computers connected in a network or that use remote communications.
Companies which store information about other people or organiza- tions.
All Credit Card merchants.
Companies that do business with local, state or federal agencies.
The entire Federal Government, regardless of data classification.
All publicly funded organizations including schools, universi- ties, museums, libraries, research, trade bureaus etc.
Public Access Data Bases and Bulletin Boards.
"It is crazy to believe that 45 million computers could comply with a law like that in under 2 years," said Harry Everett, a Washington D.C. based security consultant. "In 1987 Congress passed a law saying that the government had to protect 'sensitive but unclassified data' to a minimum C2 level by 1992. Look where we are now! Not even close, and now they expect to secure 100 times that many in one tenth the time? No way."
Another critic said, "C2? What a joke. Europe is going by ITSEC and they laugh at the Orange Book. If you're going to make security a law, at least do it right."
NSA also had words for those computers which do not fall under the umbrella of the proposed legislation. Everyone is strongly urged to practice safe computing.
* * * * *
Tuesday, January 26St. Louis, Missouri
"I'm sorry sir, we can't find you in the computer," the harried young woman said from behind the counter.
"Here's my boarding pass," he said shoving the small cardboard pass into her face. "And here's a paid for ticket. I want to get on my flight."
"Sir, there seems to be a complication," she nervously said as she saw at least another hundred angry people behind the irate customer.
"What kind of complication?" he demanded.
"It seems that you're not the only one with a ticket for Seat 11-D on this flight."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Sir, it seems that the flight has been accidentally overbooked, by about 300 people."
"Well, I have a ticket and a boarding pass . . ."
"So do they, sir."
Delta and American and Northwest and USAir were all experiencing problems at every gate their airlines serviced. So was every other airline that used the National Reservation Service or Saber. Some flights though, were not so busy.
"What kind of load we have tonight, Sally?" asked Captain David Clark. The American red-eye from LAX to Kennedy was often a party flight, with music and entertainment people swapping cities and visiting ex-wives and children on the opposite coast.
"Light," she replied over the galley intercom from the middle of the 400 seat DC-10.
"How light?"
"Crew of eleven. Two passengers."
By midnight, the entire air traffic system was in total chaos. Empty airplanes sat idly in major hubs awaiting passengers that never came. Pilots and flight crews waiting for instructions as take-offs from airports all but ceased. Overbooking was so rampant that police were called into dozens of airports to re- store order. Fist fights broke out and despite pleas for calm from the police and the airlines, over 200 were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, assault and resisting arrest. Tens of thousands of passengers had confirming tickets for flights that didn't exist or had left hours before.
Arriving passengers at the international airports, LAX, Kennedy,San Francisco, Miami were stranded with no flights, no hotels andluggage often destined for parts unknown. Welcome to the UnitedStates.
The FAA had no choice but to shut down the entire air transporta- tion system at 2:22 A.M.
* * * * *
Wednesday, January 27National Security AgencyFort Meade, Maryland
"Did you get the President to sign it?"
"No problem. Public opinion swung our way after yesterday."
"And now?"
"Essentially, every long and short distance phone company works for the Federal Government.."
"Tell me how it works."
"We have lines installed from the 114 Signal Transfer Points in every phone district to a pair of Cray-YMP's at the Fort. Every single AT&T long distance phone call goes through these switches and is labeled by an IAM with where the call came from and where it's going. What we're looking for is the high usage digital lines. Including fax lines. So the phone company is kind enough to send us a list of every call. We get about seven million an hour."
"We can handle that?"
"We have enough to handle ten times that."
"I forget about the international monitors. That's millions more calls a day we listen to."
"Yessir. The computers go through every call and make a list of digital calls. Then we get a list of all billing records and start crunching. We compare the high usage digital lines with the phone numbers from the bills and look for patterns. We look to see if it's a private or business line, part of a private PBX, hours and days of usage, then who owns the line. Obviously we eliminate a great many from legitimate businesses. After inten- sive analysis and profile comparison, we got a a few thousand candidates. What we decided to look for was two things.
"First, we listen to the lines to make sure it's a computer. If it is, we get a look at the transmissions. If they are encrypt- ed, they get a red flag and onto the Hit List."
"The President bought this?"
"We told him we'd only need the records for a short time, and then we would dispose of them. He agreed."
"What a sucker. Good work."
* * * * *
Friday, February 12New York City Times
Computer License Law Possible?by Scott Mason
Senator Mark Bowman's proposed legislation is causing one of the most stirring debates on Capital Hill since the divisive decision to free Kuwait militarily.
The so-called "Computer License Law" is expected to create as much division in the streets and homes of America as it is polit- ically.
The bill calls for every computer in the country to be registered with the Data Registration Agency, a working component of the Commerce Dept. The proposed 'nominal fees' are intended to insure that the technology to protect computer systems keeps up with other computer technology.
Critics, though, are extremely vocal in their opposition to a bill that they say sends a strong message to the American people: We don't trust you. The FYI, Freeflow of Your Information says that passage of the Computer License Law will give the federal government the unrestricted ability and right to invade our privacy. Dr. Sean Kirschner, the chief ACLU counsel, is consid- ering a lawsuit against the United States if the bill passes. Kirschner maintains that " . . .if the License Law goes into effect, the streets will be full of Computers Cops handing out tickets if your computer doesn't have a license. The enforcement clauses of the bill essentially give the police the right to listen to your computer. That is a simple invasion of privacy, and we will not permit a precedent to be set. We lost too much freedom under Reagan."
Proponents of the bill insist that the low fee, perhaps only $10 per year per computer, is intended to finance efforts at keeping security technology apace with computer technology. "We have learned our lesson the hard way, and we now need to address the problem head on before it bites us again." They cite the example of England, where televisions have been licensed for years, with the fees dedicated to supporting the arts and maintaining broad- casting facilities.