By IPS Correspondents
SEATTLE, Aug 9 1996 (IPS)

Imagine a massive international attack in which the weapons are electrons impersonating the numbers one and zero. An unidentified adversary sends them over the Internet to break into, and cripple, computers and networks that run a nation’s air traffic control or its financial systems.

Awakening to this possibility, top U.S. officials are recognising their lack of preparedness for what one called “the cyber equivalent of Pearl Harbor.”

“There is, at present, no defence against invasions of the nerve centres of our society (which include our defence, telephone, public utility, and banking systems),” warned Senator Jon Kyl.

Although most of the numerous intrusions into critical information systems have so far come from ‘hackers’ and criminals, U.S. intelligence estimates that many terrorist groups and over 120 nations are developing offensive information warfare capabilities, according to testimony before Congress.

Amid concerns over U.S. vulnerabilities to conventional terrorism, the U.S. government has announced two new high-level initiatives to address issues of information warfare (IW). IW can range from the physical destruction of communication systems to sophisticated propaganda.

Under cover of intelligence agencies’ “black budgets,” offensive cyberwar capabilities against nations and groups are also reportedly being developed and used.

According to investigative journalist Robert Parry, “the CIA has used IW tactics in covert actions targeting ‘enemy’ electronic messages — especially financial bank transfers.”

Calling the electron “the ultimate precision-guided weapon,” Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch announced on Jun. 25 an initiative to create a new IW center for U.S. intelligence at the National Security Agency, which gathers electronic intelligence.

While paying homage to the potential of computers to create “a seemingly seamless world of commerce without borders,” Deutch told a Senate hearing: “I am convinced that there is a growing awareness around the world that advanced societies, especially the U.S., are increasingly dependent on open, and potentially vulnerable information systems.”

The CIA chief said his greatest concern was that hackers, terrorists, or other nations could use easily acquired computer software and hardware to seriously disrupt electric power distribution, air traffic control, financial sectors, international commerce, and military forces.

Last summer, the National Intelligence Council produced a classified report on “foreign information warfare plans and programmes.” Deutch said he had directed the Council to build on this report in collaboration with domestic and military agencies to produce by Dec. 1 a National Intelligence Estimate, an official guide for policymakers.

“I am convinced that organised information warfare threat (sic) from both state and non-state actors will grow over the next decade as the technology proliferates,” Deutch said.

U.S. military and intelligence services had already launched an array of initiatives to develop information warfare capabilities. The Pentagon, said Parry, has even produced a 13-page booklet for its officers, called ‘Information Warfare for Dummies’, a takeoff on the titles of a popular computer book series.

Three weeks after Deutch’s announcement on Jul. 15, the Department of Justice unveiled a new Presidential Commission On Critical Infrastructure Protection. Begun as a response to last year’s bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building by right-wing domestic terrorists, the Commission will bring together the government, military, and business to address information warfare, along with conventional threats.

“As businesses, government, and individuals increasingly rely on computers to communicate and store vital information,” said Attorney General Janet Reno, “terrorists could use more sophisticated ‘cyber’ attacks on computer and communications systems to disrupt the functioning of the nation’s critical infrastructures.”

The Commission is due to report back within one year. In the interim, the president has ordered the establishment of an inter- agency Infrastructure Protection Task Force, chaired by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Recognising that much vulnerable U.S. infrastructure is privately owned, Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick called for “the equivalent of the ‘Manhattan Project’ for infrastructure protection, a cooperative venture between the government and private sector,” (The Manhattan Project built the first atomic bomb.)

Computer security breaches are already a serious and growing problem for U.S. business and government. One survey found that 42 percent of computer systems had sustained “an unauthorised use or intrusion” in the past year.

Another report estimates 1995 financial losses to the private sector from computer security breaches at two billion dollars to four billion dollars, and predicted that this number could rise ten-fold by the year 2000. But as U.S. offensive information warfare capabilities mature, some other nations and groups may also face severe problems.

According to journalist Parry, the CIA has successfully penetrated bank accounts of Latin American cocaine cartels.

Information warfare poses new kind of challenges to the United States. A report by the RAND Corporation, a top national-security thinktank, says that for one thing, almost anyone can attack. For another, blurred traditional boundaries create new problems.

“You may not know who is under attack…or who’s in charge” and strategic intelligence is also not yet available, warns RAND. “You may not know who will be your adversaries, or what will be their capabilities.”

RAND analyst Robert Anderson recommends that U.S. government and business fortify a Minimum Essential Information Infrastructure, a “mixture of U.S. information systems, procedures, laws, and tax incentives necessary to ensure the nation’s continued functioning even in the face of a sophisticated strategic IW attack.”

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