NATO cyber defence centre fights tide of hacking attempts

Crouched behind banks of computer screens flashing data, NATO analysts try to stay ahead of millions of suspected attempts to hack the Western alliance's computer networks, as cyber defence moves to the centre of NATO operations.
NATO's cyber defence nerve centre,operating from the alliance's operational headquarters at Mons insouthern Belgium, monitorspotential attacks on NATO computer systems installed at 55 locationsaround theworld.
"Our intrusion detection systems handlesomething like 147 millionsuspiciousevents every day," director Ian West told reporters during a visit to NATO's computer incident response capability technical centre on Wednesday.
Attacks on NATO's systems range from hacking, attempts to implant malicious software and so-called denial of service attacks where a computer is bombarded with so much data that it collapses.
NATO analysts dealt with around 2,500 confirmedserious attacks on its computerslast year, West said.
In an era where weapon systems and military operations increasinglydepend on computers,there is a risk that hacking attacks could have fatal consequences forthe alliance.
"The worst case scenario of a cyber attack forus could be loss of life... If intelligencedoesn't getthrough about an ambush, if notificationdoesn't getthrough about a security situation, then our troops' lives are at risk," West said.
Some attacks against NATO's computer networks have been successful, he said, although he declined to say whetherhackers had succeededin stealing confidential data. The threats come from hacking activists, criminals and "hostile nation states", although West declined to say which countries are suspected.
In May, the Pentagon said China was using espionageto acquire technology to fuelits military modernisation, for thefirst time accusing the Chinese of trying to break into U.S. defencecomputer networks. Beijingdenied the allegation.
China hit back after fugitive spy agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked details of U.S. cyber spying, accusing Washington of hypocrisy.
SPEAR PHISHING
Analysts among the cyber defencecentre's 130-strong staff from 15 nations say theattacks on NATO defence systems are growing innumber and sophistication.
"The majority of theattacks are conductedby 'spear phishing'emails," said AndrzejDereszowski, a Polish engineer at thecentre, referring to attempts by hackers to gethold of passwords or other confidentialinformation by posingas a legitimateorganisation.
"They try to entice theuser to follow thelinks (in emails) by pretendingto be from a legitimatesource or even using another compromised organisation to actually send emails from a real person from that organisation," he said.
In thecase of a serious hacking attempt, thecentre's analysts will analyse malicious code used and try to find who is behindtheattempt, West said. If it needs help from police, NATO may tip off the country concerned, but it will not go after the hacker itself, he says. NATO's remit inthe cyber area is purely defensive, not offensive.
NATO was alerted to thethreat of cyber attacks in2007, whenEstonia's Internet network was paralysed by an electronicattack that Estonia blamed on Russia. Since then, NATO has given a much higherpriority to cyber defence.NATO ministers agreed at a Brussels meeting last month to strengthenthe organisation's cyber defences.
The alliance is beefing up thecapabilitiesof the Mons cyber defencecentre,including creating rapid reaction teams to help protect NATO's own computer systems and an around-the-clock response to incidents.
Reuters