Thread: Homeland Security computers hacked

Investigators: Homeland Security computers hacked

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hackers compromised dozens of Department of Homeland Security computers, moving sensitive information to Chinese-language Web sites, congressional investigators said Monday.

Investigators pointed a finger at a government contractor, saying the firm hired to protect DHS computers tried to hide the incidents from the department.

The FBI is investigating the incidents, a congressional staffer said, and two members of Congress have asked the department's inspector general to also launch an investigation.

"The results of our [committee] investigation suggest that the department is the victim not only of cyber attacks initiated by foreign entities, but of incompetent and possibly illegal activity by the contractor charged with maintaining security on its networks," Democratic Reps. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and James Langevin of Rhode Island said in a written statement.

The lawmakers said committee investigators found dozens of DHS computers were compromised and the incidents "were not noticed until months after the initial attacks."

The extent of the damage is unclear, but a House Homeland Security Committee staff member said the hackers "took significant amounts of information."

"We know where it [the information] was taken from, but we don't know what was taken. We only know how many megabytes was taken," the staff member said. "Everything was on the LAN A, which was an unclassified network. To the best of our knowledge there was no classified information [taken]."

The Web site where the information was moved was described only as a "Web hosting service that connects to Chinese Web sites." The committee declined to say whether they were Chinese government sites.

In their letter requesting an investigation, Thompson and Langevin said that "contractors provided inaccurate and misleading information to Department of Homeland Security officials about the source of these attacks and attempted to hide security gaps in their capabilities."

The letter does not name the contractor, but a committee staffer identified it as Unisys Corp., which has a $1 billion contract to safeguard DHS computers.

In a written statement, Unisys disputed the allegations, which were made public Monday in a Washington Post article.

According to the House Homeland Security Committee, Unisys was charged with installing intrusion detection systems, but the systems were not fully deployed at the time of the initial incidents.

If they had been, "the initial intrusions may have been detected and prevented," Thompson and Langevin said.

"Unisys vigorously disputes the allegations made in today's article," the company said in a statement issued Monday, referring to the Washington Post story. "Facts and documentation contradict the claims described in the article, but federal security regulations preclude public comment on specific incidents."

"We can state generally that the allegation that Unisys did not properly install essential security systems is incorrect. In addition, we routinely follow prescribed security protocols and have properly reported incidents to the customer in accordance with those protocols."

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke declined to comment on allegations Unisys covered up evidence of hacking.

"We take cyber security very seriously and there have been major improvements since the administration's cyber security strategy announced in 2003," he said.

Knocke said DHS has responded to "malicious cyber activity directed at the U.S. government over the past few years," and such activity is "growing more sophisticated and frequent."

The government is "re-competing" the Unisys contract and other contracts "to integrate it into a single contract that maximizes the tax payer's dollar."

And although Unisys can still compete for the contract, previous performance will be weighed, said Knocke.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/24/homela ... index.html

That also means exposure to India:

Unisys Announces New India Technology Development Centre
Plans to employ around 2,000 people over five years. Estimates spending approximately US$180 million over five years for employment and other related expenses.

Bangalore, India, April 28, 2004 – Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS), a worldwide information technology services and solutions company, today announced expansion of its Indian operations with the launch of a new technology development centre in Bangalore. Over the next five years, the company expects the new centre will employ around 2,000 people and spend approximately US$180 million for employment and other related expenses. The centre will provide software development, maintenance, business process outsourcing and technical help desk services.

Announcing the launch of the Indian operations, Cal Killen, vice president, Unisys Global Services said, "Unisys has been at the forefront of building mission-critical solutions for clients in public sector, financial services, transportation, telecommunications, media and commercial. For more than 20 years, our strategy has been to source globally in order to meet client demands. This new Indian operation will add capacity to Unisys global capabilities. This expansion of global sourcing options supports our commitment to meeting clients' needs while consistently managing costs." The company already operates in India with offices in Mumbai and Delhi. Key Indian clients include Air India, the State Bank of India and ICICI.

Mukul Agrawal, managing director, Unisys Global Services India said, "This expansion of our Unisys India capabilities will be an integral part of the company's global business growth strategy. It reflects Unisys continued focus on providing high-quality and cost-effective end-to-end capabilities for our key lines of business around the world. And the skills, experience and commitment of our new employees will significantly contribute to these important efforts."

Unisys is establishing a state-of-the-art facility in Bangalore that will be operational within a year, housing the new employees. The company will directly recruit candidates, as well as recruit through its local partners - with a focus on highly qualified software engineers and data processing staff for business process outsourcing. To provide the most flexible solutions for its clients, Unisys will also continue to use third party vendors in India for some software development and business process outsourcing work, supplementing the work to be done at the new centre.

http://www.naukri.com/gpw/unisys/unisys.htm

How much do they really like us? Here's a quote from a review of a novel that was in the news a while back., by a former military leader of theirs. You be the judge:
[quote]Hence, the stage is gradually set for an Indo-Pak conflict which dutifully erupts in 2017. Thanks to the well-conceived defence plans, within two days of the commencement of hostilities, the Pakistan air force is no longer effective and its navy is bottled up. The Indian army then dismembers Pakistan with a sledge-hammer blow through Sind and captures almost all of POK. The US enters the war on the side of its ally. The US fires Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles at Hyderabad from a carrier battle group in the Arabian Sea but these are intercepted and destroyed by India’s newly-installed national missile shield. India chooses to respond with its “softâ€

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/busin ... ref=slogin

I have concerns about how Indians view Americans, and I am not alone. I realize that Indians and Americans are individuals, with widely varying opinions, but I keep running across cultural artifacts that cause me worry. One of them was, as I have mentioned elsewhere, when the big mass job losses started early this century, it seemed to be very important to some people to convince us Americans that it was our fault, and that we needed to bow before a superior, more cost effective workforce from abroad. We were supposed to retire from the profession that we had invented (I still hear foreigners claim that they are responsible for America's advanced state - they themselves, just in the last few years that they have been here). While entities like IV tried to influence our government, we were supposed to sit down, shut up, and take it. The experience turned many of us into activists, even after we got back to work and got comfortable again.

What if the political winds change again, as they have in the past? America has almost killed off an entire generation of technical talent, all in the name of globalism and cost cutting. We are well aware that we are disliked in many quarters, more so than before thanks to recent history. Yet I have had foreigners tell me that we should give up on IT and just start international businesses, play the stock market, or live off our investments, as if that were an option for more than a tiny minority of us.

It stands to reason that there will be some cross-border interchanges, but I can't see countries like India letting in as many of us (proportionally or absolutely) as we did for them. I can't see other countries surrendering whole professional areas to non-citizens.

I am not sure why imporatance is given to individuals who make such comments.. These comments are seen everywhere by different people against each other. I have seen even in alipac forum also , individuals making ugly comments on India and its culture. I dont see any reason to take them seriously as it does not represent majority view.

India also has exact same problems like USA with respect to illegal immigration and also with terrorism.

http://www.whatisindia.com/issues/povillim/index.html

Good that you turned into activist because of what you thougt is injustice to american workers.

I also dont see anything wrong in what IV is doing because they are fighting what they thought is injustice to them.

About whether India allow such thing to happen.. I think there is no option to them if they are in such situation. Just to give an example..

Millions of indian retail store workers and owners/families loose their jobs when foreign retailers like Walmart enter into Indian market. Indian governament does not have any option but to allow them as they think it is right even though it effects millions

http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Sep ... updatenews

it is a struggle to every individual all the time .. there is nothing specific to India alone.

Maybe I'm just battle-scarred because I've run into so many of these individuals. They seem to be everywhere. If Indians don't want WalMart they have as much right to fight it as we have to fight what we fight. I believe their government should have thought twice about letting them in too. Sometimes arrangements can be made. The Hondas and Toyotas you see on American roads are made in America, for the most part. Some Indian companies are starting to hire Americans, but I do not believe that India is open to Americans the way America has been to Indians. I cannot see India, for example, reserving 85K - 195K jobs for foreigners, the way our H-1B system does. Most of those jobs were never opened to American candidates, or advertized where we could see them. So, they are effectively reserved for foreign workers. We should stop doing that. Ron Hira expressed frustration that Indians seemed to believe that the jobs offered to H-1Bs had been first offered to Americans, but that no Americans could be found. This myth just doesn't want to die.

It isn't India per se' India is just cashing in on what the bribe money buys (ie. the Nukes for mangos trade agreement).

It isn't the individual non-immigrant H-1B visa holders it's their handlers, from the worlds largest corporations (Tata, Infosys, Sat'yam, HCL, Wiprospectramind, etc.)

The individual H-1Bs are just doing what they do - getting knowledge transfer while Americans are fired and sent away

The bad guys include

• The taxpayer funded US India Political Action Committee (Hillary Clinton and Sen Cornyn)[/*:m:m4jmksr2]
• Corrupt US politicians[/*:m:m4jmksr2]
• The insidious NASSCOM [/*:m:m4jmksr2]
• Hill and Knowlton lobby firm[/*:m:m4jmksr2]
• The Friends of India Caucus[/*:m:m4jmksr2]
• The giant body shops of Bangalore (ie. Tata, Infosys, etc)[/*:m:m4jmksr2]
• H-1B employers[/*:m:m4jmksr2]
• US Chamber of Commerce[/*:m:m4jmksr2]
• The two giant subversive pro-H-1B websites[/*:m:m4jmksr2]
• Sociopath H-1B leeches with bad attitudes![/*:m:m4jmksr2]
• Senators Cornyn and Hillary Clinton[/*:m:m4jmksr2]