Privacy Digest

State Department got mail _ and hackers - Yahoo! News: "A break-in targeting State Department computers worldwide last summer occurred after a department employee in Asia opened a mysterious e-mail that quietly allowed hackers inside the U.S. government's network.

In the first public account revealing details about the intrusion and the government's hurried behind-the-scenes response, a senior State Department official described an elaborate ploy by sophisticated international hackers. They used a secret break-in technique that exploited a design flaw in Microsoft software.

Consumers using the same software remained vulnerable until months afterward.

Donald R. Reid, the senior security coordinator for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, also confirmed that a limited amount of U.S. government data was stolen by the hackers until tripwires severed all the State Department's Internet connections throughout eastern Asia. The shut-off left U.S. government offices without Internet access in the tense weeks preceding missile tests by
North Korea.

Reid was scheduled to testify Thursday at a cybersecurity hearing for a House
Homeland Security subcommittee. He was expected to tell lawmakers an employee in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs -- which coordinates diplomacy in countries including China, the Koreas and Japan -- opened a rigged e-mail message in late May giving hackers access to the government's network.

The chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson (news, bio, voting record), D-Miss., said hackers are no longer considered harmless, bored teenagers. 'These are experienced, sophisticated people who are trying to exploit our vulnerabilities and gain access to our information,' Thompson said.

Reid was not expected to disclose the identities or nationalities of the hackers believed to be responsible for the break-ins or to disclose whether U.S. authorities believe a foreign government was responsible. The department struggled with the break-ins between May and early July.

The panel's chairman, Rep. James R. Langevin, D-R.I., called cybersecurity an often-overlooked line of defense. 'Since much of our critical infrastructure is dependent on computers and networks and is interconnected and interdependent, a cyberattack could disrupt major services and cripple economic activity,' Langevin said.

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