Pierluigi Paganini: Fear Iran and escalation of cyber attacks

 

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by paganinip on April 30th, 2012

Last week I reported the virus attack to the Iranian oil industry, a cyber attack that seems has caused few damages but that raised again the theme of cyber warfare. Oil industry is the primary economic business of Iranian Government and an attack to the sector appears to the experts as a cyber war acts. In the past Iran was already victim of cyber attack to its nuclear plants, we all remember the case of the Stuxnet Virus, for this reason the Iranian intelligence is convinced that also this time the nation is facing with a new cyber attack. Iran has in great consideration the theme of cyber warfare and it government is making big investments to strengthen the technological structure of the country and to promote effective cyber strategy.

Immediate reaction to the incident, on Saturday Iranian oil ministry’s cyber team has identified the targets of the attack and also the responsibles. Despite the Iranian officials haven’t revealed the identity of the responsibles they have provided more information regarding the attack and the real damages, they have in fact confirmed a virus has hit the structures of Kharg Island plant destroing minor data and some user’s hard disks. For all the data infected the experts have a copy of backup that has been restored without problems.

“The nature of the attack and the identity of the attackers have been discovered, but we cannot publicize it since we are still working on the case,”

Deputy Oil Minister Hamdollah Mohammadnejad told FNA.

“the attack was carried out by virus penetration and was aimed at stealing and destroying data and information.”

The spokesman’s words are eloquent, the attack hasn’t had the sole intent to destroy data, but it is part of a complex strategy that aims to infiltrate the Iranian networks gathering sensible information.

“those who design and develop such viruses are pursuing specific goals”.

Obviously there is the announcement in tones of propaganda immediate resumption of operations at the site attacked, senior Iranian oil ministry officials announced earlier this week said their computer systems resumed normal operation on Wednesday.

Iranian Oil Ministry’s Spokesman Alireza Nikzad-Rahbar declared that main services of the ministry’s computer systems, including the Administrative Automation System were up again on Tuesday evening, and that all the Iranian government experts have adopted all precautions to minimize the impact of a cyber attack ensuring the business continuity.

Iranian government is aware of the destructive capabilities of cyber weapons and the importance of appropriate cyber strategy, rather it is believed that in this area, the Western enemy may be more vulnerable. On March 2012 the leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has tasked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with the duty of establishing a Supreme Council of Cyberspace which is charged with protecting the Iranian cyberspace

The registered attack is not the only one against Iranian infrastructures, Iranian Sharg newspaperhas reported that hackers have attacked the computers of Iran’s ministry of science, of course also this time there aren’t damage. Iranian expert also in this occasion have noted that the hackers haven’t the only purpose to destroy data but they were more interested to steal information.

An analysis of activities in cyber space clear the escalation of cyber conflict in the Middle East with Israel as the main protagonists, and the emerging Iran and Lebanon. The detailed Middle East Cyber War Timeline is available on the web site of the collegue Paolo Passeri, following a brief list of the events.

The intensification of the attacks provides an indicator of the level of tension in the area, and portends a military intervention to date avoided only by the veto of countries like China and Russia backing the government in Tehran. The intense activity also impacts on the policies of leading western nations, U.S. in the lead. 

The Iran issue is beginning to worry the American government, and not only, that through a media campaign is trying to rally support for military intervention in the area. Attempts of diplomacy did not match the expected results allowing the government in Tehran to organize an alarming strategy. Recall that world experts believe that Iran can have its own nuclear arsenal within two years, this time the West will have to decide how to act and precede.

Very significant is the report “The Iranian Cyber Threat to the U.S. Homeland” Statement before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies and Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence. In the document are analyzed the growing Iranian capabilities, the country expanding exploitation of cyberspace can be attributed to two principal geopolitical drivers:

1. The first are the Iranian regime’s efforts to counter Western influence and prevent the emergence of a “soft revolution” within its borders. That digital barrier has grown exponentially over the past three years, as Iran’s leadership has sought to domestic dissent and curtail the ability of its opponents to organize.
2. The second geopolitical driver of Iran’s interest in cyberspace relates to the expanding conflict with the West over its nuclear ambitions.

The report clarify the position of Teheran that is considering itself engaged in a cyber war with West, due this reason the Iranian regime is mobilizing in response launching an ambitious $1 billion governmental program to boost national cyber capabilities, acquiring new technologies, investing in cyber defense, and creating of a new army of cyber experts.

Where does the United States stand with regard to a response? The Obama administration has made cybersecurity a major area of policy focus since taking office in 2009, and the past year in particular has seen a dramatic expansion of governmental awareness of cyberspace as a new domain of conflict.

The U.S. government, in other words, has not yet even begun to get ready for cyberwar with Iran, and according the report it’s time to start it. The risk of attacks against infrastuctures located in US homeland is high and it will increase in coming months due a range of scenarios, from a renewed diplomatic impasse to a further strengthening of economic sanctions to the use of military force against Iranian nuclear facilities.

Never let the guard down!

Pierluigi Paganini

http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/4799/intelligence/fear-iran-and-escalation-of-cyber-attacks.html?goback=.gde_37658_member_111511700

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SOCOM Joint IntelOPS Center's TopSECRET/SCI Clearance Issuance Under REVIEW

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Reservist's top-secret clearance worrisome

By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 23, 2011
Updated: July 23, 2011 - 12:17 AM

In Courtroom 14 B Thursday, U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington asked a question about the man who had just been convicted of lying to obtain housing at MacDill Air Force Base.

How could Army Reserve 2nd Lt. Scott Allan Bennett, 40, obtain a top-secret clearance despite a previous misdemeanor conviction in 2008 for lying to government officials?

Prosecutors had the same questions and were unable to get answers, but former intelligence officers and those who currently deal with security clearance issues contacted by The Tampa Tribune say that Bennett should probably have never gotten clearance and that somebody somewhere "dropped the ball."

In December 2006, Bennett told U.S. government officials that he was working with the office of President George W. Bush and the State Department. In that role, he was helping a woman from South Africa obtain a visa to visit the country. He said she would be working for the president.

It turned out that the woman was someone he had met over the Internet and that he created a job "out of whole cloth" to get her into the country, according to federal documents.

Two years later, Bennett was convicted of the misdemeanor crime of lying to government officials. Bennett obtained TS/SCI clearance, top-secret/sensitive compartmentalized information, the highest level of security clearance available, in October 2008, according to Army Lt. Col. Gerald Ostlund.

There are at least three "adjudicative guidelines" used by the government to determine whether someone should be given security clearance that should have raised red flags about Bennett, according to Evan Lesser, founder and managing director of Clearancejobs.com, an employment website for people with security clearance.

"Guideline B, which deals with foreign influence, says if you have contact or connections with a foreigner, you are at a heightened risk of exploitation," Lesser said.

"There are two other guidelines that more than a few things here would have called out this individual as being a problem." Lesser said. "Guideline E, personal conduct, looks at any conduct involving questionable judgment or dishonesty and Guideline J, criminal activity, says that any criminal activity brings into doubt that person's judgment or trustworthiness."

* * * * *

To obtain a TS/SCI clearance, an individual has to submit to a background check that delves into the previous 10 years of personal history, according to the Defense Security Service. The information is then presented to an adjudicator, who looks at the guidelines and determines whether there are any circumstances that would allow, for instance, someone with a conviction to still obtain clearance.

Depending on how much information was known about Bennett, adjudicators "would have most likely denied this person clearance," Lesser said.

The timeline, he said, is critical.

 

Bennett was convicted in August 2008. He was hired sometime that year by Booz Allen Hamilton as a contractor, although the company won't say when.

Booz Allen Hamilton spokesman James Fisher would not comment on whether Bennett obtained clearance to work for the company, although it was required for the job he was hired to perform at MacDill in 2010, working as a counter-threat finance analyst at U.S. Central Command's Joint Intelligence Operation Center.

Ostlund said Bennett's clearance was requested by the defense contractor. Bennett did not enter the Army Reserve, where he served as a personnel officer with the 11th Psychological Operations Battalion, until four months after he obtained his clearance, Ostlund said.

Larry Johnson, a former CIA employee who also worked at the State Department's Counterterrorism Office, offered a blunt assessment of how Bennett obtained clearance.

"One of two things happened," said Johnson, currently a military contractor with TS/SCI clearance who frequently visits MacDill. "Either the folks who conducted the background investigation failed, or the adjudicator was negligent. There is no in between. There are no mitigating factors" that would allow Bennett clearance.

Pat Lang, a retired senior U.S. military intelligence officer who later served in the Pentagon in the Defense Senior Executive Service and at the Defense Intelligence Agency as defense intelligence officer for the Middle East, has a similar view.

Giving Bennett security clearance, he said, was "a bad call. It is a judgment call, but I have a very hard time imagining someone being convicted for lying about immigration status being cleared. I wouldn't have cleared them, if it were up to me."

In January 2010, Bennett moved onto MacDill housing by claiming he was an aide to Special Operations Command chief Adm. Eric Olson and lying about his status as an active duty officer. Investigators later found Bennett had 10 guns and more than 9,000 rounds of ammunition without authorization.

On Thursday, Bennett was convicted of one count of making a false statement, one count of wearing his uniform without authorization and two counts of violating a security agreement by bringing concealed weapons on base and storing weapons and ammunition in his apartment without permission.

Bennett, who faces up to seven years and six months in prison, will be sentenced Oct. 25.

* * * * *

Even before Thursday's convictions, Bennett's job in the Joint Intelligence Operation Center made him a threat to security, according to Lesser, Lang and Johnson.

"If you already have a track record of lying to the government, what guarantee is there that you will not commit that behavior again?" Johnson asked.

"This is the type of person who could be coerced easily," Lesser said. "The criminal activity he has done puts him at risk of being exploited or manipulated. That is something the government is always worried about."

Lesser said that government agencies need to investigate how Bennett got his clearance, what information he had access to and what, if anything, he did with that information.

"It seems really difficult to believe that he did not have red flags from past behavior," Lesser said. "Should somebody be concerned about this person? I would say most definitely. He had high level clearance and access to a fair amount of classified information at a very high level. It seems like somebody dropped the ball on this particular person."

haltman@tampatrib.com (813) 259-7629

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/jul/23/menewso1-reservists-top-secret-clearance-worrisome-ar-245909/

[Information contained in BKNT E-mail is considered Attorney-Client and Attorney Work Product privileged, copyrighted and confidential. Views that may be expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of any government, agency, or news organization.]