Infested flash drive caused worst U.S. military breach
Summary
Topics
A malware-laden flash drive inserted in a laptop at a U.S. military base in the Middle East in 2008 led to the "most significant breach of" the nation's military computers ever, according to a new magazine article by a top defense official.
The malware uploaded itself to the U.S. Central Command network and spread undetected on classified and unclassified computers creating a "digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control," William J. Lynn III, U.S. deputy secretary of defense, wrote in his essay in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs.
ZDNet's Ryan Naraine was one of the first to report on the flash drive crisis: Under worm attack, US Army bans USB drives
"It was a network administrator's worst fear: a rogue program operating silently, poised to deliver operational plans into the hands of an unknown adversary," he wrote. This previously classified incident was the most significant breach of U.S. military computers ever, and it served as an important wake-up call. The Pentagon's operation to counter the attack, known as Operation Buckshot Yankee, marked a turning point in U.S. cyberdefense strategy."
For more on this story, read Bad flash drive caused worst U.S. military breach on CNET News.
Talkback Most Recent of 8 Talkback(s)
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I wonder which Operating System was involved
Anyone willing to throw an educated guess?
OS Reload26th Aug 2010 -
.
.OS Reload26th Aug 2010 -
Windows, anyone?
I suspect it's windows.
Windows' flawed security mechanisms —I know, I know using the words "windows" and "security" in the same sentence is highly abusive and it borders blasphemy but bear with me— are no match to even the mildest forms of malware so it must have been a windows exploit that did it.OS Reload26th Aug 2010 -
RE: Infested flash drive caused worst U.S. military breach
@OS Reload
It was linux because the government would never use Microsoft Windows in classified projects, so I've been told.
Loverock Davidson26th Aug 2010 -
how do you know anything from a servise desk.
about the only thing you've herd was from chicken little ...that the sky was falling ...:-)
SoYouSaid26th Aug 2010 -
If you're going to respond with insults the least you could do is...
@SoYouSaid: how do you know anything from a servise desk.
about the only thing you've herd was from chicken little ...that the sky was falling ...:-)
Use proper grammar and spelling.
ye26th Aug 2010 -
Can't be Windows. We've been told it isn't used for anything important.
@Loverock Davidson: ntye26th Aug 2010 -
RE: Infested flash drive caused worst U.S. military breach
Don't suppose there are any military types reading zdnet that would let us know that many military systems run on MS software?
Agnostic_OS26th Aug 2010
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