(COMTEX) B: CSIS report on 'hacktivist' threat to national security
B: CSIS report on 'hacktivist' threat to national security
TORONTO, Jun 27, 1999 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) -- The Masters of
Downloading, Hong Kong Blondes and X-Ploit sound like the latest cool
bands to hit the music charts.
But Canada's spy agency considers them potential threats to national
security.
These underground computer hackers and cyber-outlaws are attracting the
attention of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, as potential
infiltrators of key government and business facilities, the National
Post reported this weekend in a Southam News article from Ottawa.
Newly declassified CSIS studies say many hacker groups are becoming
more politically motivated, while some long-standing terrorist
organizations are turning to the Internet to plot and execute sabotage
operations.
Several activist groups -- dubbed hacktivists -- have launched software
attacks to oppose the proliferation of nuclear weapons, promote human
rights and encourage more open government.
''There are indications that some hacker groups already possess the
capability to remotely manipulate computer-operating systems and copy
e-mail from local area networks,'' says the CSIS study completed last
December.
The MilwOrm group, which has members from the U.S., England, New
Zealand and the Netherlands, hacked into the computer servers of the
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Bombay to protest the nuclear tests
undertaken by India in May last year. Once inside, MilwOrm copied
e-mail messages.
The group also promoted its anti-nuclear stance by electronically
infiltrating the Cekmece Nuclear Research and Training Centre in
Istanbul, Turkey, and an Internet service provider in Britain.
The Hong Kong Blondes, whose mysterious leader Blondie Wong is believed
to live in Canada, have protested the human rights record of China by
threatening to cripple Chinese military networks and possibly attack
the computer systems of companies that trade with China.
The Mexican hacker outfit, X-Ploit, has waged a campaign against its
government by breaking into the computer systems of Mexico's finance
and health ministries, the Senate and the national water commission,
altering official Web sites to include its logo.
The Masters of Downloading claim to have electronically stolen American
military software and has hacked a number of databanks in Eastern
Europe. (National Post)
Copyright (c) 1999 The Canadian Press (CP), All rights reserved.
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