At Boeing Co.’s cyber operations center in St. Louis, a flashing, 54-inch computer screen warns of modern-day burglars and spies.
In an hour’s time on a typical morning this spring, Boeing’s elaborate detection system logged 3,722 suspicious efforts to gain access to the company’s global computer network.
Boeing analysts worked swiftly with company cyber sleuths at other locations to secure the network and identify would-be intruders.
But tracking the hackers can be tough, even with their nine-digit Internet Protocol addresses flickering in vertical rows on the huge color monitor.
“The bad guys are really good at hiding their tracks,” observed Kevin Nikkel, a Boeing security analyst.
They’re persistent, too — to an extent that most people can’t fathom. At Boeing, the automated attacks don’t stop, keeping teams of security analysts busy round the clock.
And that’s just at Boeing.
The new head of the U.S. Cyber Command, Gen. Keith Alexander, revealed this month that Pentagon systems are attacked 250,000 times an hour, 6 million times a day. The attackers range from foreign intelligence agents to for-profit criminal enterprises to hackers trying to make mischief, security specialists say.
“In short, we face a dangerous combination of known and unknown vulnerabilities,” said Alexander, who also heads the National Security Agency.
As the federal government moves to address those vulnerabilities, defense contractors like Boeing are pushing aggressively to win lucrative contracts. Companies accustomed to selling weapons to the government also are bidding for work in secret military programs to develop offensive cyberwarfare tools.
Missourians are playing other key roles: Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., hopes to engineer major legislation soon that he believes is essential to protect against computer attacks.
Meanwhile, the University of Missouri is setting up a new Cybersecurity Institute that will sponsor seminars, scholarships and research. The government’s urgent efforts to protect against cyber attacks is raising questions in academic circles…