Terminal Compromise Part 48

AND REPROGRAM THE LAUNCH COMPUTERS? >

Never. It's against the Code.

I KNOW THAT, BUT DO YOU? >

What are getting at?

OK GOOD BUDDY . . .STRAIGHT SHOOTING. DID YOU GO IN AND PUT SOME MESSAGES ON MISSION CONTROL COMPUTERS? >

f.u.c.k, no. You know better than that.

I HOPED YOU'D SAY THAT. >

Hey . . .thanks for the vote of confidence.

NO OFFENSE DUDE. HADDA ASK. THEN IF YOU DIDN'T WHO DID?

>

I don't know. That's sick.

NO s.h.i.+T SHERLOCK. NASA'S ONE p.i.s.sED OFF PUPPY. THEY HAVEN'T GONE PUBLIC YET, BUT THE MEDIA'S GOT IT PEGGED THAT HACKERS ARE RESPONSIBLE. WE MAY HAVE TO LOCK IT UP.

d.a.m.n. Better get clean.

YOU LEAVE TRACKS?

Nah. They're security is for s.h.i.+t. No nothing. Besides, I get in as SYSOP. I can erase my own tracks.

BETTER BE SURE.

I'm not going back, not for a while.

THERE'S GONNA BE SOME SERIOUS HEAT ON THIS.

Can't blame 'em. What d'you suggest? I'm clean, really.

BELIEVE YOU GUY. I DO. BUT WILL THEY?

I hope so . . .

Friday, November 15 New York City Times

NASA SCRUBS MISSION: HACKERS AT PLAY?

by Scott Mason

NASA canceled the liftoff of the s.p.a.ce shuttle Columbia yester- day, only 15 seconds prior to liftoff. Delays in the troubled shuttle program are nothing new. It seems that just about every- thing that can go wrong has gone wrong in the last few years.

We watch fuel tanks leak, backup computers go bad, life support systems malfunction and suffer through a complete range of incom- prehensible defects in the multi-billion dollar s.p.a.ce program.

We got to the moon in one piece, but the politics of the Shuttle Program is overwhelming.

Remember what Senator John Glenn said during his historic 3 orbit mission in the early days of the Mercury Program. "It worries me some. To think that I'm flying around up here in a machine built by the lowest bidder."

At the time, when the s.p.a.ce program had the support of the coun- try from the guidance of the young Kennedy and from the fear of the Soviet lead, Glenn's comment was meant to alleviate the tension. Successfully, at that. But since the Apollo fire and the Challenger disaster, and an all too wide array of constant technical problems, political will is waning. The entire s.p.a.ce program suffers as a result.

Yesterday's aborted launch echoes of further bungling. While the management of NASA is undergoing critical review, and executive replacements seem imminent, the new breed will have to live with past mistakes for some time. Unfortunately, most Americans no longer watch s.p.a.ce launches, and those that do tune out once the astronauts are out of camera range. The s.p.a.ce Program suffers from external malaise as well as internal confusion.

That is, until yesterday.

In an unprecedented move, seconds after the countdown was halted, NASA cut its feeds to the networks and all 4 channels were left with the omnipresent long lens view of the s.p.a.ce shuttle sitting idle on its launch pad. In a prepared statement, NASA blamed the aborted flight on yet another leak from the ma.s.sive and explo- sive 355,000 gallon fuel tanks. In what will clearly become another public relations fiasco, NASA lied to us again. It appears that NASA's computers were invaded.

CNN cooped the other three networks by applying advanced digital reconstruction to a few frames of video. Before NASA cut the feed, CNN was receiving pictures of the monitor walls from Mis- sion Control in Houston, Texas. Normally those banks of video monitors contain critical flight information, telemetry, orbital paths and other data to insure the safety of the crew and machin- ery.

Yesterday, though, the video monitors carried a message to the nation:

CHRISTA MCAULIFFE AND THE CHALLENGER WELCOME THE CREW OF THE s.p.a.cE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA.

This was the message that NASA tried to hide from America.

Despite the hallucinations of fringe groups who are prophesizing imminent contact with an alien civilization, this message was not from a large black monolith on the Moon or from the Red Spot on Jupiter. A Star Baby will not be born.

The threatening words came from a deranged group of computer hackers who thought it would be great sport to endanger the lives of our astronauts, waste millions of taxpayer dollars, r.e.t.a.r.d military s.p.a.ce missions and make a mockery of NASA. After con- fronted with the undisputed evidence that CNN presented to NASA officials within hours of the attempted launch, the following statement was issued:

"The s.p.a.ce Shuttle Columbia flight performing a military mission, was aborted 5 seconds prior to lift-off. First reports indicated that the reason was a minor leak in a fuel line. Subsequent a.n.a.lysis showed, though, that the Side Band Communications Moni- toring System displayed remote entry anomalies inconsistent with program launch sequence. Automatic system response mechanisms put the count-down on hold until it was determined that intermit- tent malfunctions could not be repaired without a launch delay.

The launch date has been put back until November 29."

Permit me to translate this piece of NASA-speak with the straight skinny.

The anomaly they speak of euphemistically was simple: A computer hacker, or hackers, got into the NASA computers and caused those nauseating words to appear on the screen. The implication was obvious. Their sickening message was a distinct threat to the safety of the mission and its crew. So, rather than an automat- ic systems shut-down, as the CNN tape so aptly demonstrates, a vigilant technician shouted, "Look at the g_______ed monitor for Chrissakes! Just look!"

While the NASA computers failed to notice that they had been invaded from an outside source, their able staff prevented what could have been another national tragedy. Congratulations!

If computer hackers, those insidious little moles who secretively poke through computer systems uninvited and unchecked, are the real culprits as well placed NASA sources suggest, they need to be identified quickly, and be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. There are laws that have been broken. Not only the laws regarding computer privacy, but legal experts say that cases can be made for Conspiracy, Sedition, Blackmail, Terrorism and Extortion.

But, according to computer experts, the likelihood of ever find- ing the interlopers is " . . .somewhere between never and none.

Unless they left a trail, which good hackers don't, they'll get away with this Scott free."

Hackers have caused constant trouble to computer systems over the years, and incidents have been increasing in both number and severity. This computer a.s.sault needs to be addressed immediate- ly. America insists on it. Not only must the hacker responsible for this travesty be caught, but NASA must also explain how their computers can be compromised so easily. If a bunch of kids can enter one NASA communications computer, then what stops them from altering flight computers, life support systems and other comput- er controlled activities that demand perfect operation?

NASA, we expect an answer.

This is Scott Mason, waiting for NASA to lift-off from its duff and get down to business.

Friday, November 15 New York City.

Scott Mason picked up the phone on the first ring.