Hackers put
state, military
on alert

Chinese angry about the spy plane
incident are suspected of hitting
government Web sites

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Island military have beefed up security not only at bases, but on computers as well because of Chinese hackers angered by the collision between an U.S. spy plane and a Chinese jet.

State officials also are on alert after an incident over the weekend in which an interactive Web site maintained by the Department of Land Natural Resources was vandalized by people who left behind "obscenities against the U.S. government."

Gilbert Coloma-Agaran, chairman of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, said he was not sure who was involved, but he was told by his computer experts that this was the week Chinese hackers might attack U.S. sites.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources site that was hacked was the one for people who wish to sign in to use island hiking trails.

"What was especially worrisome," Coloma-Agaran said, "is that this site had a firewall, and they were able to get through it."

He said the Web site will be back online after investigators try to determine who broke in.

The Pentagon moved its computers to INFOCON ALPHA alert after Chinese hackers began hitting U.S. Web sites following the April 1 collision between the Navy's EP-3 surveillance plane and a Chinese jet over the South China Sea. The U.S. plane's 24-member crew was held for 11 days on Hainan island, where it made an emergency landing, and the plane is still there.

Yesterday, the United States resumed surveillance flights off the coast of China, sending an Air Force RC-135 aircraft along the northeast coastline. No Chinese fighter jets tried to interfere.

Lt. Col. Stephen Barger, Pacific Command spokesman, said he could not comment on the security measures the military takes against cyberspace threats.

"We never talk about security," he said.

But other military offices here confirmed that they were recently told to increase the security surrounding computers in their facilities.

"We were instructed to shut down our computers when we leave each day," one person said.

Chinese hackers are suspected of hitting the Naval Communications Telecommunications Station Web site in Washington, D.C., on April 29. Other federal government Web sites that have been vandalized include the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the White House and the U.S. House of Representatives.

One government Web site was vandalized with messages honoring Wang Wei, the Chinese pilot who was killed when his jet collided with the Navy surveillance plane.

Yesterday also was the second anniversary of the accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade by U.S. jets during the Kosovo conflict.

At Schofield Barracks more than 90 infantry soldiers are supporting military police there through May 15 in an annual security force exercise.

Every military police officer at a Schofield gate will be accompanied by a soldier as a partner during the exercise.

At a congressional hearing last month, 32 federal agencies reported 155 computers were taken over temporarily by hackers last year. Three-quarters of hacking attempts involved foreign attackers.

"I think it would come as quite a surprise for most Americans to learn the extent to which these federal civilian agencies are the target of attacks by foreign and domestic sources bent on espionage or other malicious actions," Rep. Billy Tauzin (R, La.) said at a House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing.