Novel Describes Iraqi Cyberattack on U.S.

McLEAN,VA: An Iraqi computer attack finds targeted U.S. industries in denial and authorities hamstrung by turf and legal impediments. The country’s survival depends on a cyber vigilante, who heads a rebel force willing to go against the law. He becomes the target of both the U.S. and the terrorists.

The story comes a week after the Department of Homeland Security’s National Infrastructure Protection Center issued a bulletin warning Americans not to engage in “patriotic hacking” against Iraq, the central plot of the novel. For the story is fiction, even if it strikes so close to current reality.

Within a few days of the book’s release on amazon.com with a maiden sales rank of 1,779,363, sales soared until the novel became one of amazon’s 500 best-selling books. The book tells the remarkable story of America’s cyber vulnerabilities and shows that the most frightening attacks are those that strike from within, with No Outward Sign. The novel by that name, from Writers Club Press (November 2002), was written by Bill Neugent, who is the Chief Engineer for Cybersecurity at The MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit think tank chartered to work in the public interest.

MITRE provides systems engineering support to the Federal government, including the military and intelligence communities. Neugent has been a cybersecurity consultant for over thirty years and had developed cybersecurity strategies for several government agencies, so he understands the business.

With the release of his novel, Neugent found himself besieged with calls. He’s been asked to give keynote talks on cyberterrorism at Sandia National Laboratories, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, an Army Computer Network Operations conference, and a Government Chief Information Officer Summit, which will be providing copies of his novel to several hundred high-ranking attendees. The novel was also provided to participants in a recent government-sponsored security conference.

Why do so many serious government and industry officials find such interest in a novel? According to Neugent, the book “shows how it feels to be under computer attack, when you don’t know who or what is behind it. The book shows how it feels to be a victim and a defender and how it feels to strike back.” He adds that anxieties are at a peak. “The general populace is worried about Iraq. Computer professionals are facing doom, waiting for the inevitable offspring of the Slammer worm.”

Slammer hit in early February and propagated at 250 times the speed of Code Red, the prior fastest-moving malware. “Within ten minutes, the majority of the 75,000 machines that were hit had been infected. The total attack fit into a single 404-byte packet. These were machine-gunned over the net at remarkable speed. The Internet has never seen anything like this.” He notes that had “Slammer contained a malicious payload, it could have caused massive damage.” His concern is that, “the worm is so simple, it puts the ability to wreak havoc within the outstretched reach of hackers.”

What these threats add up to is a heightened sense that computer networks are in danger. “We’re all naked in cyberspace. Our privacy’s gone, our identity can be stolen, out financial accounts can be looted. People know that. What the average non-techie doesn’t yet understand is the vulnerability of the power, water, communications, and other networks critical to modern life. What they don’t understand is how much damage Saddam Hussein could do by outsourcing a million-dollar cyber attack. They don’t understand what will come of the latest escalation of worm technology.”

What does he recommend? Implement the just-released National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace. “I know it’s not fashionable to say so, but I think Washington got this one right.” Ensuring the plan is resourced and implemented are concerns. “Most of the actions belong to industry. For the government to push this is like nosing a noodle. It’s hard. But regulation is more apt to backfire than to fire.”

Why did Neugent choose a technical theme for his novel? “What greater literary conflict is there than great good and great evil both embodied in the same soul? It’s like Jekyll and Hyde, or your computer.”

Does he think the computer theme of the novel will deter non-technical readers? “My favorite reader is a gentlemen from North Carolina, eighty-six years old. He loved the novel, read it in one sitting, but afterwards he asked his daughter, ‘What is this word, cyber?’”

TaleCatcher™ at http://www.talecatcher.com is the company of Bill Neugent, author of NO OUTWARD SIGN. Buy the book at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595257496

Updated: 20-Oct-2005