Defence

Intelligence and Security

DSD putting on its top white hat!

By Lisa Dobson

When you hear the term 'computer hacker' you may conjure up an image of a teenager fooling around at home on a personal computer (PC), gaining access to systems purely for fun. Well, scratch that image - hacking is sophisticated stuff.

Computer hacking and its evil cohort, cyber crime, is no longer limited to the realms of the curious home PC enthusiast or to the imagination of Hollywood scriptwriters. It is big business.

Cyber crime includes vandalism of web sites, the compromise of secure data and the closure and breakdown of systems. Cyber crime most commonly comes in the form of malicious code sent through viruses and worms via the Internet and emails.

The potential effects of malicious code and determined attempts to breach organisational information technology (IT) security can and does affect business and Government, sometimes with catastrophic consequences.

In the context of Government and particularly Defence, it can mean the compromise of sensitive security and operations information and the shutdown of essential operational support.

Director Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), Steve Merchant, considers the threat to Government computer networks connected to the Internet as very real.

"Deliberate criminal acts, such as hacking and cyber attacks, as well as the accidental or deliberate infection of a network by viruses, are all possibilities, and networks that have weaknesses are more susceptible to these types of threats," he says.

Hacking and cyber attacks aren't restricted to just Government computer networks. Indeed they can have significant negative impact to critical service provision within the community.

An example of this is demonstrated by an IT security breach that occurred in America last month, where the names, banks and account numbers of up to 40 million credit card holders worldwide were possibly compromised. A computer virus was responsible and the incident, investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), may have affected holders of all brands of credit cards.

It was reported at the time that the company didn't know how the virus-like computer script had entered their system to capture customer data.

So, is there any way to defeat such malicious attacks? In practical terms, most organisations employ a range of IT security measures such as firewalls, anti-spyware and anti-virus software, as well as physical security measures, to reduce their risk of cyber attack.

More and more private companies, such as computer giant IBM, and some overseas government agencies are increasing their level of IT security by employing teams of 'ethical hackers' who test IT systems against hacking attacks.

Ethical hacking is also known as red teaming, penetration testing, vulnerability testing, or 'white hats' (as in the good guys wear white hats and the bad guys wear black in all good Western movies).

'White hats' are computer experts who 'attack' a system on behalf of their company to look for vulnerabilities that illegal or malicious hackers might try to exploit. They use the same methods as their unethical, illegal counterparts to identify possible system weaknesses and threats. They can then recommend methods to eliminate these weaknesses.

The vulnerability testing is a relatively new concept in Australia and the Australian government is pursuing this new initiative. DSD however, is already on the case and in May this year launched their Active Vulnerability Assessment Team (AVAT). The AVAT is one of the initiatives to come out of the Government's funding to improve the protection of Australia's Critical Infrastructure.

DSD, as the national authority for information security will be introducing the AVAT to the Australian Government to facilitate the identification of potential vulnerabilities through penetrating a Government network and testing its response to electronic attack. With permission from the respective agency (and their legal services to ensure compliance with issues such as privacy), the AVAT will perform the 'penetration' with minimal initial knowledge of the target network.

The AVAT forms one key capability that DSD exercises in its role as the national authority for information, communication and technology security, and as part of the Australian Government protection strategy.

Further information: Information about DSD IT Security services, and questions on how the Information Security Group can help you can be directed to the Client Services Team. Inquiries regarding any aspect of DSD's information security responsibilities and services are welcome at any time.
http://www.dsd.gov.au/infosec
Telephone 02 6265 0197, or via
Email infosechelp@dsd.gov.au

To request an Active Vulnerability Assessment conducted against their network, Government agencies need to make a request to the Assistant Secretary Information Security by calling 02 6265 0197.

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