DATE=2/11/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=THE INTERNET UNDER ATTACK
NUMBER=6-11679
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=


INTRO:  After a series of unprecedented, electronic 
attacks on commercial internet computer web sites this 
week, daily newspapers in the United States are filled 
with comments.  We get a sampling now from _____ in 
today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT:  For at least five years, the worldwide computer 
network known as the internet, [EDS: which stands for 
"interconnected network of networks"] and its more 
expansive, visual component, the World Wide Web, have 
been a growing source of commerce.  Hundreds - and now 
thousands - of companies display their wares on this 
electronic network, and people with computers are able 
to order the goods electronically.

This week, the sites of more than half a dozen 
companies - including some of the best known - were 
electronically attacked by computer vandals known as 
hackers.  The disruptions caused a loss of millions of 
dollars in business, and even caused a precipitous 
drop on the New York Stock exchange.  The F-B-I is 
investigating, and Attorney General Janet Reno says 
the vandals will be severely punished if found.  
Meanwhile, the press is having plenty to say about 
these attacks and their significance.  The New York 
Times is worried about the internet's vulnerability, 
which has become more apparent because of the 
incidents.

VOICE:  Just when Americans have begun to get 
accustomed to the pervasive influence of the internet, 
a wave of anonymous assaults on web sites has roiled 
the stability of the newly emerging cyberworld.  The 
latest hacker attacks ... are especially insidious 
because they seem so nihilistic.  None appear to have 
been motivated by blackmail or other monetary 
purposes.  They may even have been carried out as a 
perverse warning, to prove the vulnerability of the 
internet to attack.  Whatever the twisted motive, 
prosecutors are right to investigate the causes and 
recommend safeguards, though it may well be that no 
safeguard will work perfectly.

TEXT:  In the capital of Rhode Island, The Providence 
Journal worries that people who send personal 
financial information - such as credit card numbers - 
over the internet may be at more risk than they 
realized.

VOICE:  Such attacks ... also raise questions about 
the security of personal financial and other 
information about customers on such popular web sites 
as Amazon-dot-com, E-Trade, e-Bay and Yahoo.  While 
this week's attacks consisted of simply paralyzing the 
sites through overwhelming them with Internet traffic, 
and not actual incursions **into** [italics for 
emphasis] them, the situation may lead some people to 
stop doing business on these sites, at least for a 
while.  ... The hackers' success in wreaking some 
havoc this past week ought to also prod these sites to 
step up security.

TEXT:  What troubles the Chicago Tribune is that so 
little is known about these vandals, because they are 
able to cover their tracks electronically.

VOICE:  What investigators don't know about this 
week's cyberspace attacks far exceeds what they do 
know.  They don't know who was responsible.  They 
don't know where the attacks came from.  They don't 
know how many innocent third-party computers were 
used.  They don't know if the attacks are over.  They 
don't know what motivated the attacker or attackers.  
But here's one thing they do know:  A single kid 
[young person] with limited computer skills could be 
the instigator.  And that is raising such concern 
about the future of electronic commerce that it drove 
down the entire U-S stock market.  Think about that 
for a minute.

TEXT:  In the Pacific Northwest, The Oregonian in 
Portland is also clearly upset.

VOICE:  Regardless of who turns out to be behind them, 
this week's attacks on internet businesses offer a 
sobering reminder of the vulnerability of the world's 
electronic communications web.  The hackers ...may be 
seekers of a perverse sort of fame, or foreign 
intelligence agents bent on undermining the American 
economy - - or anything in between. ... American 
agencies ... already monitor and attempt to counter 
such threats. ... But it's also clear that government 
efforts can go only so far.  Businesses must also be 
more aware of electronic security issues.

TEXT:  Across the country, The [New York] Daily News 
is outraged as well.

VOICE:  Maybe they think it's ...  funny...  Whatever 
the reason, cyber-thugs managed to disable several of 
the World Wide Web's most popular sites this week.  
... Deliberately corrupting a computer network is a 
felony.  The maximum penalty for a first-time offender 
is five years in prison and a 250-thousand dollar 
fine, plus damages.  Perhaps it's time to get serious 
and increase the sentence.

TEXT:  In Charleston, South Carolina, The Post and 
Courier calls the vandals: "Dangerous cyber-
hooligans," adding:

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks or 
made any economic or political demands, so the motive 
remains unknown.  ... But it is clear that the same 
technique could be used to affect internet stock 
prices or for extortion.  So it is essential that ... 
federal authorities find those responsible as quickly 
as possible.

TEXT:  To Texas now, where The Dallas Morning News 
ponders the fragile security of the web, and how it 
has depended in the past, to an extent, on the 
goodwill of users.

VOICE:  The incidents represent the serious side of 
the internet's growing pains, and come less than a 
month after a hacker hijacked credit card numbers in 
an apparent effort to extort money from a web site 
operator by threatening to publicly release the 
account numbers.  This week's attacks have again drawn 
attention to internet security issues.  But since late 
last year, this type of attack has affected several 
high-capacity commercial and educational networks, 
notes Internet Security Systems, a security management 
firm.  Exploiting some common security loopholes, 
attackers can install what amounts to a hidden command 
on hundreds of machines and later direct a network of 
those machines to attack a single target.  Internet 
Security Systems says this simultaneous attack is more 
dangerous than any denial of service attack seen to 
date.

TEXT:  On that note, we conclude this sampling of 
comment on a new series of electronic attacks against 
business sites on the World Wide Web component of the 
Internet.

NEB/ANG/JP




11-Feb-2000 16:21 PM EDT (11-Feb-2000 2121 UTC)
NNNN

Source: Voice of America
.