Computer Espionage

The next level of threat to the DOD and US national security is cyber espionage. This threat is likely to be the most difficult to distinguish because it may appear to be hacker activity and will intentionally avoid causing damage or harm in order to avoid detection. Although there is little information in the public domain about the use of computer hacking in foreign intelligence operations, there is no doubt that this activity is prevalent among most state intelligence agencies around the world. The first documented computer espionage case was in 1986 and was immortalized in the best seller novel, "The Cuckoos Egg". In this case, the Soviet KGB levied five hackers (to include the Hanover Hacker) to hack into US DOD systems and provide information to the Soviets. These young hackers all had drug and financial problems and were easily exploited by the Soviet KGB.18 This early espionage investigation revealed the importance of cyber espionage to foreign intelligence services and also the proclivity for criminal hackers to be vetted and employed by foreign intelligence services.

According to Peter Schweizer‘s book Friendly Spies, Germany initiated one such (intelligence) program, dubbed Project Rehab after the harlot who helped the Israelites infiltrate Jericho, in the mid-1980s. The project was developed within Germany‘s intelligence agency, the Bundes Nacrichten Dienst (BND), as a joint effort between the BND‘s central office and the divisions for human and signals intelligence. The unit allegedly accessed computer systems in the United States, the former Soviet Union, Japan, France, Italy, and Great Britain, and in 1991 penetrated the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) network, which carries most international bank transfers.

These popular books —The Cuckoo‘s Nest“ and "Friendly Spies“ highlights the potential threat of foreign intelligence cyber operations against US and DOD information
systems.