America’s Most deadly Computer Security Breach Was Brought on by a Flash Drive [Security]

In 2008, a foreign intelligence agency slipped a flash drive into a U.S. military computer, sneaking malicious code onto classified military networks: ” A rogue program operating silently, poised to deliver operational plans into the hands of an unknown adversary.” Gulp.

That’s how Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III described the incident in a piece of writing published today, with the hope that declassifying the info can assist impart that computer security is an increasingly important component of national security. Pentagon officials say it’s the first official disclosure that U.S. military networks had been breached by foreign intelligence.

One military official, speaking anonymously, explained the importance of keeping these classified networks secure:

This is how we order people to head to war. Once you’re on the inside, you’ll change orders. You can actually say, ‘turn left’ rather than ‘turn right.’ You possibly can say ‘go up’ in place of ‘go down.’

According to the object, the code was loaded onto a military laptop inside the Middle East and went undetected as it spread across classified and unclassified networks, waiting quietly to send sensitive information to foreign servers. The breach led the dep. of Defense to issue a total ban on USB drives in late 2008 , which has since been overturned. [ WaPo ]

Image credit Department of Defense

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This post is tagged: breach, Brought, Deadly, drive, Flash, security