U.S. military computer networks are under constant attack. And the rate of attack is skyrocketing, from 300 in 2003 to more than 75,000 last year. "Our adversaries are able to inflict a substantial amount of harassment and a measurable amount of damage upon DOD communications networks at practically no cost to themselves," says the director of technology for the military group responsible for defending networks.
So who is our adversary? Who is checking constantly for ways to breach Defense systems and learn about classified military plans? Al Qaeda? China, according to an article today on FCW.com. The article quotes former Army chief of staff Jack Keane:
"The Chinese were doing this on a regular basis. That’s a given. They’re very aggressively getting capability. It’s common knowledge in the Pentagon."
One Army officer says a Trojan horse virus was used to breach a system and download information about the capabilities of a future Army command and control system "for eight months before the service detected a security breach."
DOD officials think can contain 90% of the attacks through better procedures but as many as 10% of attacks may get through because of advanced hacking procedures.