Dangerous military data found online
p2pnet news | security:- With the latest Die Hard movie centering on a ‘fire sale attack’ on the US in the background, sensitive US military “need-to-know” information is apparently easy to find online.
In a story which reads more like a movie plot than an actual event, detailed schematics of a military detainee holding facility in Iraq and aerial photos of two military airfields outside Baghdad were only two of the items found by Christopher Freeman while he was working on an internal security review at his job in Greensboro, North Carolina, says Associated Press.
Freeman, “watched as a computer with an electronic address from Tehran, Iran, accessed the city’s FTP server and downloaded a file that contained design drawings for the area’s water infrastructure,” says the story, which kicked off with the statement that data “posted carelessly to file servers by government agencies and contractors, accessible to anyone with an Internet connection” – including terrorists.
Experts said foreign intelligence agencies and members of al-Qaida probably know where to look, story states, continuing:
In one case, the Army Corps of Engineers asked the AP to promptly dispose of several documents found on a contractor’s server that detailed a project to expand the fuel infrastructure at Bagram — including a map of the entry point to be used by fuel trucks and the location of pump houses and fuel tanks. The Corps of Engineers then changed its policies for storing material online following the AP’s inquiry.
But a week later, the AP downloaded a new document directly from the agency’s own server. The 61 pages of photos, graphics and charts map out the security features at Tallil Air Base, a compound outside of Nasiriyah in southeastern Iraq, and depict proposed upgrades to the facility’s perimeter fencing.
Bruce Schneier, cto at the BT Counterpanetechnology security company, said the attitude that material posted on FTP sites is hard to find, “reflects a misunderstanding of how the Internet works,” says AP, adding:
“For some, there’s sort of this myth that ‘if I put something on the Net and don’t tell anybody,’ that it’s hidden,” Schneier said. “It’s a sloppy user mistake. This is yet another human error that creates a major problem.”
And Oh Yea ….. what’s a fire sale attack?
In Live Free Or Die Hard, the US is viciously attacked by a gang of evil hackers and another Bruce, Bruce Willis, comes to the rescue.
The head bad guy became disillusioned when Homeland Security ignored his warnings that America is ripe for a fire sale attack where “everything has to go”.
Also See:
Associated Press – Military Files Left Unprotected Online, July 12, 2007
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