Titan Rain

If we do nothing else, let's thank the Pentagon for coming up with some cool code-names to ease us through the slow news days of summer.  From the front page of the WaPo:

Hackers Attack Via Chinese Web Sites
U.S. Agencies' Networks Are Among Targets

By Bradley Graham, Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 25, 2005;  Page A01

Web sites in China are being used heavily to target computer networks in the Defense Department and other U.S. agencies, successfully breaching hundreds of unclassified networks, according to several U.S. officials.

Classified systems have not been compromised, the officials added. But U.S. authorities remain concerned because, as one official said, even seemingly innocuous information, when pulled together from various sources, can yield useful intelligence to an adversary.

"The scope of this thing is surprisingly big," said one of four government officials who spoke separately about the incidents, which stretch back as far as two or three years and have been code-named Titan Rain by U.S. investigators. All officials insisted on anonymity, given the sensitivity of the matter.

"Seemingly innocuous information"?  They're data-mining!  But who are "they"?

Whether the attacks constitute a coordinated Chinese government campaign to penetrate U.S. networks and spy on government databanks has divided U.S. analysts. Some in the Pentagon are said to be convinced of official Chinese involvement; others see the electronic probing as the work of other hackers simply using Chinese networks to disguise the origins of the attacks.

Sounds scary.  But the Pentagon tells me to relax, in their own special way:

Another official, however, cautioned against exaggerating the severity of the intrusions. He said the attacks, while constituting "a large volume," were "not the biggest thing going on out there."

Good point - I could die in a terrorist attack tomorrow.  Thanks for the reminder.

MORE:  After careful sleuthing, I have targeted a likely suspect - tech savvy, a data hound - connect the dots.

Other sleuths may get a kick out of the Google search for "Titan Rain".  There is a whole 'nother world out there.

UPDATE:  TIME magazine has colorful details.

MORE:  Alternative view - these networks are attacking *everyone*, but since the military doesn't share data, they are taking it personally.

And IT bloggers are all over this.

Comments

[TM]

FWIW - methane is swamp gas, so maybe "Titan Rain" is swamp gas, too. You read it here first.

[kim]

I'm wondering if moonbats flit as well in methane as elsewhere.
==========================================

[Bill Arnold]

I wonder how much of this is just Chinese free enterprise in action, e.g. spammer & denial of service network builders assembling collections of compromised Windows machines.

[kim]

Who knows? Googling get's you way off course, and it's difficult to breathe. Where's my towel?
================================================

[TM]

Alternative view - these networks are attacking *everyone*, but since the military doesn't share data, they are taking it personally.

[TM]

IT Bloggers are swarming to this.

Oh, and Bill Arnold was on the trail suggested by the earlier link - please pardon my redundancy.

[serverassasin]

They have been able to trace the attacks to a central router in china. After hacking the router and adding a bug it appears that the attacks are originating from only 10 ips on the same subnet and the attacks are constant 24/7. Sounds like Chineese gov work to me.

[Brett]

Why don't we go after the Cyberspies? I think that if these people are breeching our government, then they should be prosecuted.

[euphorial]

We're going to get nuked by China someday soon anyway, so it doesn't matter. No, I am not claiming to be a secret Government agent that has picked up this data through "intelligence". I am just a simple guy that knows how much our own Government likes to piss other Governments off. China, for example. So, I wouldn't be worried about being hacked by China, when there is certainly more to worry about than that.

[kim]

I think you've been dipping into the Turtle Bay Soup a little too much latlely.

The Chinese have no desire to nuke us. No way they're gonna pedal rather than motor. But the Iranians, who are self-destructive, soon will be able to nuke Israel and Europe.
======================================

[kim]

Here's a little uncertainty principle business in action. The act of observing the Chinese with datamining has provoked observation in return by the Chinese Able Danger.
==============================

[kim]

Some little birdie should whisper to the ayatollah that Allah has lent Bush his ears on the condition that they only be used to preserve civil order, and not to invade the privacy of the innocent. The lovely thing about it is that that is the received truth.

La illah ha il lala, dangerablar rasullah lah.
=============================================

[kim]

Look, instead of forcing the Chinese to build a wall to keep the barbarians out, nature gave them a moat. The Pacific Ocean.

And I've an elegant solution to the immigration problem here. Simply unify the Americas. It'll happen sooner or later, anyway.
=======================================