Potential for more internet attacks
Anton Bouwer (robb.j.thompson@lmco.com)
Mon, 6 Jan 1997 10:04:34 -0500
I received the following e-mail from a friend who works for a govt
agency in Maryland and forwarded it to both the CERT and the DoD ASSIST
for verification of the potential threat.
What follows is both the original e-mail I received and the response
back from the DoD ASSIST team. I felt this group should be informed so
you could be better prepared for a possible surge of attacks on your
systems. It was bad enough before but now someone has sweetened the
pot.
V/r
Robb Thompson
robb.j.thompson@lmco.com
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
The Foundation for Convulsive Beauty is pleased to announce its
first-ever
Gilbert N. Kelly, Jr., Memorial Product Subversion Award.
A grant of $20,000, made possible by an anonymous donation, will be
awarded for the best act of creative subversion of any highly visible
commercial
product (mass-produced item, advertisement, television show, etc.). The
act must be completed between January 1, 1997, and January 1, 1998; the
award will be made on March 1, 1998.
To qualify, an act of subversion
MUST NOT cause physical injury,
MUST NOT gratuitously damage the product or company, and
MUST NOT be an attempt by one individual or company to damage
another.
Acts will be judged on the degree to which they are visible, effective,
clever, and beautiful.
Submissions should be in the form of a written description of the
subversion,
and should include documentation sufficient to permit independent
verification. Description of any media reaction (with newspaper dates,
etc.) should also be included.
Please send submissions via electronic mail to FCB@MailMasher.com
(address subject to change). If materials must be mailed, an address
will be
provided following verification. All entries will be kept confidential
until
January 1, 1998, at which point finalists will be announced, with their
permission.
>> >
>> >********* CALL FOR ENTRIES ********* PLEASE POST *********
>> >
>__________________________________
>Subject: Re: FW: Call for entries (fwd)
>Author: Eric Waxvik <egw@assist.mil> at smtp
>Date: 1/6/97 8:52 AM
>
>
>
>Mr DeVenny,
>
> I have seen this message before and am bothered a little by it.
>There are three main paths that this could be. One is that it could be some
>hacker that is just trying to get information about sites without having
>to do the work for themselves, hence the "address subject to change
>part." The second, and slightly sicker path, would be that some group is
>trying to prove an theory or to "Prove something to the world", which
>could be along the lines of the Ted Kaczynski's. The third and possibly
>the scariest is the fact that this could be a foreign intelligence source
>trying to find out as much information as is possible without exposing
>themselves.
> We at ASSIST do not have the manpower or Authority to conduct
>investigations as to whom this might be. This action would require an LEA
>or an Intelligence organization to do this work. So I cannot confirm or
>deny the fact that this is true or false but for the matter of
>conservatism I will take that this is real and that expect alot more
>attacks on the DII and NII.
>
>V/R
>Eric Waxvik
>Intrusion Branch Chief
>