WASHINGTON – As U.S. government agencies pull sensitive documents and reports from their websites to stiff terrorists hunting for information that could help them plan more attacks on American soil, they also should beef up the Internet security software protecting their internal computer networks from cyber-terrorism.
Start with the White House. There’s reason to believe its system is vulnerable.
Indeed, the White House would be well-advised to immediately upgrade or replace its Internet firewall software protecting its computer network from terrorist hackers and network-crippling viruses.
Here’s why: The anti-virus software vendor that the Clinton administration hired in 1999 to replace the existing firewall, as part of Y2K upgrades, happens to be one of a handful of software makers that has since shared samples of some of the world’s most malicious computer viruses with a country which has declared America its archenemy – and one that re-exports military-related technology to terrorist-harboring nations with large Muslim populations.
Of particular concern, this country in recent years has established diplomatic ties with the ruling Taliban militia of Afghanistan.
The firewall, installed on network servers, is designed to screen Internet traffic for coding that contains network-damaging viruses and worms. All Internet links and e-mail must first pass through the firewall before coming into the local area network for the Executive Office of the President, the most vital server in the White House compound, and on to individual users in the West Wing and the Old Executive Office Building.
Why would a vendor holding a lucrative contract for White House computer security potentially help an enemy whose own military is developing an information-warfare program targeting the U.S.?
Greed. The foreign government offered the company permission to market products in its country in exchange for the virus samples.
In July – approximately a year after the White House vendor provided the virus samples to the foreign government – the White House website was attacked by a particularly virulent strain of virus that emanated from that country. Luckily, the FBI, with the help of an anti-hacking specialist from Southern California, was able to dodge the attack by moving the White House server to a different Internet protocol address before the “denial-of-service” attack was set to go off.
When a vendor hired to protect the White House computer network from viruses turns around and shares viruses with a hostile country, it’s the height of irresponsibility. Indeed, it’s professional malpractice.
Given the new security threats from Islamic terrorists, the Bush administration would not be out of bounds in demanding that the security-software vendor replace – free of charge – the White House firewall system with a customized application programmed to screen out any of the viruses, or combinations thereof, that it has shared. It should also ask for a written guarantee and hold it liable in the event of attack from such viruses.
Or, if Bush officials do not trust the vendor now, they should fire it and hire another company. That would be perfectly understandable under the circumstances.
Who is the vendor? It wouldn’t be appropriate at this time to reveal the name of the White House vendor, or even where it’s based. To do so might tip off terrorist hackers to the type and version of firewall application, making it easier for them to breach security.
But count on me returning to this latest security outrage in detail after the terrorist threat has diminished.
Government contractors who wittingly trade with the enemy are just as culpable as government officials who condone it or make such sensitive exports easier. And they should also be exposed. No one should be sharpening the sword of our enemy – not for political donations or corporate profits.
