September 13, 2001
Attack on USIA Web Site
should have been early warning
By Howard Hobbs, Ph.D. President
Valley Press Media Network
WASHINGTON -- An early
mornig sneak attack on US Department of State's Web Site [http://www.usia.gov]
happened during President William Clinton's final months in office.
On 01/21/99 the FBI and officials at the U.S. Information Agency
were scrambled to find out who hacked into and destroyed the agencies
hard drives..
The hacker apparently had inside information
or assistance in circumventing security measures in place at State.
After destroying the computer circuits and hard drive back-ups,
the signature "Zyklon" was left for investigators to trip over.
That signature messages had also been left
behind on the USIA Web site about five months earlier, when the
hacker destroyed secured files.
USIA officials say "Zyklon" may be a reference
to the type of poison gas used by the Nazis in their World War II
extermination camps. U.S. diplomats around the world rely on the
USIA's Web sites for statements of American policy and the texts
of speeches that are not covered by the news media, and foreign
reaction to U.S. policies.
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