Hackers Stole IDs for Attacks

Wall Street Journal World ^ | AUGUST 17, 2009 | By SIOBHAN GORMAN

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WASHINGTON -- Russian hackers hijacked American identities and U.S. software tools and used them in an attack on Georgian government Web sites during the war between Russia and Georgia last year, according to new research to be released Monday by a nonprofit U.S. group.

In addition to refashioning common Microsoft Corp. software into a cyber-weapon, hackers collaborated on popular U.S.-based social-networking sites, including Twitter and Facebook Inc., to coordinate attacks on Georgian sites, the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit found. While the cyberattacks on Georgia were examined shortly after the events last year, these U.S. connections weren't previously known.

"U.S. corporations and U.S. citizens need to understand that they can become pawns in a global cyberwar," said Mr. Bumgarner, who wrote the report.

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Yikes. They can use our own resources against us and their enemies.

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Looks like we are gonna need about 20 more of these rooms.

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U.S. planning for electronic 'Pearl Harbor'

America's military is preparing for a new kind of warfare. It's warfare in cyberspace, and some military officials say a cyberattack would result in an "electronic Pearl Harbor." It could shut down electricity, banking systems, cell phones and other electronic tools. It would silence systems that work on computers and the Internet. It could create a level of chaos never seen before, they predict.

"Five or 10 years from now, senior defense officials believe, an enemy may not need soldiers, ships or aircraft to strike hard at the United States," says a report prepared for the U.S. Air Force Association. "The preferred tool may be information-based attacks carried out in cyberspace."