Thursday, June 21, 2007

Hacker Penetrates Unclassified Pentagon Email System

Via physorg.com -

A hacker penetrated an unclassified Pentagon email system, prompting authorities to take as many 1,500 accounts off-line, defense officials said Thursday.

"All precautionary measures are being taken and we expect this system to be on-line again very soon," said Colonel Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman.

He said the penetration was detected Wednesday in the unclassified email system of the office of the secretary of defense, which employs thousands of people.

Between 1,000 and 1,500 users of the system were taken off-line, a defense official said.

The system carries "routine email" involving administrative manners but not classified information related to military operations, Keck said.

He would not comment on the source of the attack, or whether the hacker was able to read email sent over the system.

"The department has redundant systems in place and there is no anticipated adverse impact to ongoing operations," he said.

"The department aggressively monitors its networks for intrusions and has appropriate procedures to address events of this nature," he said.

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The number of detected attacks against gov/mil networks has been increasing year after year. Most are detected and stopped, but a small number are not stopped. In 2005, DoD officials claimed that 90% could be stopped, but 10% might not be stopped based on advanced hacker techniques.

So clearly this stuff happens more than the general public is aware. I wonder how the media found out about this one??

Food for Thought...

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