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FBI computer security center warns of increased hacking

By Joshua Dean jdean@govexec.com September 14, 2001

The FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center warned government agencies and businesses Friday of a likely increase in computer hacking following Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

NIPC issued its advisory, "Increased Cyber Awareness," in part because of a virus already spreading that, the organization said, appears "to be related to the World Trade Center." The virus is not new; it is simply a renamed version of the pervasive "Life Stages" virus that flooded e-mail accounts and brought down servers across the country in July 2000.

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In addition, NIPC has "already received reports of individuals encouraging vigilante hacking activity." Such attacks are aimed at individuals, groups or even governments deemed by "patriot" hackers to be responsible for the airliner crashes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "Those individuals who believe they are doing a service to this nation by engaging in acts of vigilantism should know that they are actually doing a disservice to the country," the advisory stated.

NIPC advised systems administrators to:

  • Make sure antivirus software is up to date.
  • Stop suspect e-mail attachments at the server.
  • Filter inbound and outbound mail.
Finally, NIPC encouraged concerned systems administrators to read a guide to security improvement published by Carnegie Mellon University's Computer Emergency Response Team.

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FBI computer security center warns of increased hacking
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