Conference 7.286::digital

4445.0. "hackers invade a firewall" by MKOTS3::FLATHERS () Mon Feb 26 1996 10:27

        Anybody know who's firewall product got hit ???  
   Hopefully, not ours.


   <forwards removed>

By JOAN E. RIGDON Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Hackers armed with free software from the Internet broke into a Los Alamos
National Laboratory computer system last week, forcing the lab to upgrade
its security, a staff physicist said.

The hackers didn't steal or destroy any sensitive documents, which are kept
on a stand-alone network. They did breeze past the lab's "firewall"
software, which is designed to keep hackers out. Such software is also
relied upon by companies doing business on the Internet to protect
important information, such as customer lists, billing and payroll records.


"They walked through our firewalls like they weren't there," said physicist
Brosl Hasslacher. He said Los Alamos is still trying to figure out how the
hackers did it.

Once over the Los Alamos firewall, the hackers stole a password that gave
them access to several computers at the New Mexico lab, which is best known
for helping develop the atomic bomb.

Since the attack, the lab has changed its system to use constantly changing
passwords and encryption to stave off similar attacks in the future.

But the hackers were able to use the Los Alamos system as a launching pad
to attack the San Diego Supercomputer Center, where they destroyed some
electronic mail and other unessential files. They also tried unsuccessfully
to break into the computer of security expert Tsutomu Shimomura. The
hackers identified themselves as the "Kevin Mitnick Liberation Front," a
group that wants to free Mr. Mitnick, who was convicted last year of
stealing 20,000 credit card numbers over the Internet. Mr. Shimomura was a
key figure in tracking down Mr. Mitnick, and Mr. Hasslacher was quoted in
Mr. Shimomura's book on the case.

In an Internet report on the break-in, Mr. Shimomura wrote off the hackers
as unskilled "anklebiters." But they were armed with a sophisticated
"robot" program that is available for free on the Internet. "The
sophistication of the stuff out there is truly awesome," Los Alamos's Mr.
Hasslacher said.

Among other things, the hackers' robot exploited a known security hole in a
Unix e-mail program. Most people program their firewalls to accept e-mail
from the outside, which would allow such an attack. One way to prevent that
is to set up another firewall that screens mail sent from the server
computer to individuals' desktops, said Deborah Triant, president and chief
executive of CheckPoint Software Technologies Inc., Redwood City, Calif.

Companies can also use encryption, or scrambling of sensitive information,
to protect themselves. But companies say that the government has tied their
hands in this area, because it restricts the use of superpowerful
encryption technologies, fearing that spies or others will use the
technology to plot crimes.

    ref: -1
    
    You could post it in NOTED::SEAL, too.
    
    /john
    

    we don't think it was ours but still trying to verify.