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[infowar.de] Pentagon hat neuerdings Angst vor drahtlosen Netzwerken
Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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... nachdem jahrelang der Soldat mit Helmdisplay und
Satellitenverbindung als Zukunftsmodell gepriesen wurde. ;-)
RB
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/07/31/pentagon.hackers.ap/index.html
Military imposes limits on wireless devices
July 31, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The wireless soldier may be getting some new
strings attached.
The Defense Department, concerned that hackers or spies might
eavesdrop on classified meetings or secretly track the locations of
top United States officials, is imposing new limits on its' workers
use of the latest generation of wireless devices inside military
buildings.
The new rules will outline new restrictions on civilian and military
employees carrying cellular telephones, pagers and handheld computers
while working, even devices that employees bought themselves and carry
for their personal convenience at work, said John P. Stenbit, the
assistant defense secretary for command, control, communications and
intelligence.
Stenbit, who also is the Pentagon's chief information officer,
disclosed the upcoming rules Tuesday after a technology conference in
Washington focusing on security problems of wireless devices. Stenbit
said the new rules would be announced within a month.
In an earlier speech at the same conference, President Bush's top
cybersecurity adviser, Richard Clarke, said the technology industry
was acting irresponsibly by selling wireless tools such as computer
network devices that remain remarkably easy for hackers to attack.
The industry's most common data-scrambling technique designed to keep
out eavesdroppers, called the wireless encryption protocol, can be
broken -- usually in less than five minutes -- with software available
on the Internet.
"It is irresponsible to sell a product in a way that can be so easily
misused by a customer in a way that jeopardizes their confidential and
proprietary and sensitive information," Clarke said.
Clarke said government and companies need to explain to consumers ways
to keep their information secure over wireless networks. Some
recommendations will be included in a forthcoming report from the
administration on cybersecurity, which currently runs more than 2,800
pages.
Classified conversations
Stenbit said the new rules would explain which equipment, such as
handheld Blackberry e-mail devices, may be used in different areas of
military buildings, including the Pentagon. Stenbit has complained to
colleagues about classified meetings being interrupted when electronic
bug-sweepers in specially designed conference rooms detect the
presence of cell phones and handheld computers.
Stenbit exhorts visitors, "Let's lose the devices," said one frequent
meeting participant, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Robert Gorrie, deputy director of the Pentagon's Defense-wide
Information Assurance Program Office, called it "a thorn in my side"
when military officers try to carry handheld wireless devices inside
such classified conference rooms.
Gorrie said the military won't ban wireless gadgets outright because
of their convenience but also won't let workers use them without clear
rules. "That would be a stupid thing to do," he said.
The new policy reflects increasing concerns among security experts
about the latest breed of devices, such as two-way pagers and wireless
network cards for handheld computers. Officials have previously
worried that cell phones, programmed to answer automatically and with
ringers set to silent, could be hidden inside a conference room and
dialed to function as low-tech listening devices.
No phones
The newest wireless devices, which can send and receive e-mails and
even voice messages, also could be misused as eavesdropping devices,
even without the user's knowledge. And since the devices usually
transmit continuously, experts worry they could be used to trace a
particular user's location. They fear, for example, that a two-way
pager assigned to a top Defense Department official could reveal
whenever that person rushes to the Pentagon in the middle of the
night.
"They're recognizing the kinds of threats that are out there," said
Art Matin, president of McAfee Security, a software company. "That
kind of spark will accelerate people's focus on that risk."
Other U.S. agencies already impose some restrictions on wireless
technology. Visitors to the CIA's headquarters must leave cell phones
in the parking lot, and signs warn visitors to some offices at the
National Security Council not to bring cell phones inside.
Workers at the Defense Intelligence Agency must walk outside the
headquarters building to place a call on a cell phone.
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