Young whizz gets into U.S. defence computer

Press, 5 November 1984, Page 18

Young whizz gets into U.S. defence computer

By

FIONA GILLIES

of AAP through NZPA London The movie, “War Games,” came to life in an astonishing public demonstration recently when h young computer whizz gained access to a Washington defence computer. The act, which took only seconds to perform, was witnessed by members of the news media yet, amazingly, it received virtually no coverage in the national press and no reaction from Washington.

The demonstration took Slace at the 8.8. C. Micro 'ser Show at Alexandra Palace, organised by a new computer magazine, TeleLink.

For the price of a local telephone call, the teenager, known in the computer world as a “hacker,” used d leap-frog technique from London to the atomic energy laboratory at Daresbury, Cheshire, then over to Vancouver before making an approach. 1 Within seconds, he was given authorisation to enter the Washington defence system. l The features editor of TeleLink, Mike Cowley, said that the demonstration at the show was his idea.

“Hackers always claim to be able to do this, that, and the other, so I thought they should be put to the test for people to see.”

Mr Cowley said that hackers were usually young teen-agers working on home computers. "They do it for the hell of it, not for any malicious reasons, but they can get into the N.A.S.A. computer fairly easily and like to get into defence computers in the United States.

“They have never attempted to get highly sensitive material, they would not know what to ask for anyway. “But they have seen things about missiles and God knows what else, but it does not mean anything to them because they are not experts.”

Mr Cowley said that the demonstration was to show what could be done and to point out how potentially dangerous it could be. “The implications are terribly, terribly serious, potentially frightening, but people tend to take it in a very light-hearted way.” Or ignore it altogether, of course.

Mr Cowley said that the demonstration received some radio coverage and would also be written up by

some computer magazines. “But the big daily papers did not really bite.”

The demonstration was mentioned in the last paragraphs of a story in the “Daily Express” which, predictably, was more concerned with the idea that Princess Diana’s household accounts could be disclosed by hackers.

Another spokesman for TeleLink said that all sorts of information could be and has been dug up from com-’ puters all over the world. “One young fellow wrote to a commercial firm, telling them all kinds of information he had got from their computer.

“At first they did not believe him, but they ended up hiring him as a security consultant.”

Mr Cowley said the lack of reaction from Washington was expected. “They never comment on security breaches,” he said. Companies did not like to comment because they were embarrassed at how easy it was to gain access to their computers, and they did not want everybody having a go, Mr Cowley said.

Many firms had now gone back to the old-fashioned method of storing sensitive material on paper, he said. “With some American computers, you get to a certain point, then a human being comes on the line and interrogates you about who you are and what you are doing.”

Mr Cowley said that there were about 200 active hackers in Britain, but only about 10 were capable of breaking into very sophisticated systems. “You need passwords and other identification to get into the big computers,” he said.

“But the hackers. trade information between them and with American hackers. “It is the biggest craze since C.B. — taking computer creativity to its limits.

“These kids are eager to Sint out that it’s just fun. ey like to have a go at the big boys.” But as Mr Cowley said, if these kids can get into some of the most advanced systems in the world, what is to stop people with less innocent motives having a go? ‘