Since the author also requests remuneration, we would ask these

W >> Winn Schwartau >> Since the author also requests remuneration, we would ask these

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HARDWARE VIRUSES: A NEW TWIST
By Scott Mason

In conversations with the Spook, the man who claims to be the
technical genius behind the Homosoto Invasion, I have learned
that there are even more menacing types of computer viruses than
those commonly associated with infected software programs. They
are hardware viruses; viruses built right into the electronics.
The underground computer culture calls the elite designers of
hardware viruses Chippers. It should come as no surprise then
that Chipping was a practice exploited by Homosoto and his band
under the wizardry of the Spook.

Chippers are a very specialized group of what I would have once
called hackers, but whom now many refer to as terrorists. They
design and build integrated circuits, chips, the brains of toys
and computers, to purposefully malfunction. The chips are de-
signed to either simply stop working, cause intentional random or
persistent errors and even cause physical damage to other elec-
tronic circuits.

You ask, is all of this really possible? Yes, it is possible, it
is occurring right now, and there is good reason to suspect that
huge numbers of electronic VCR's, cameras, microwaves, clock
radios and military systems are a disaster waiting to happen.

It takes a great many resources to build a chip - millions of
dollars in sophisticated test equipment, lasers, clean rooms,
electron beam microscopes and dozens of PhD's in dozens of disci-
plines to run it all.

According to the Spook, OSO Industries built millions upon
millions of integrated circuits that are programmed to fail. He
said, "I personally headed up that portion of the engineering
design team. The techniques for building and disguising a
Trojan Chip were all mine. I originally suggested the idea in
jest, saying that if someone really wanted to cause damage,
that's what they would do. Homosoto didn't even blink at the
cost. Twelve million dollars."

When asked if he knew when the chips would start failing he
responded, "I don't know the exact dates because anyone could
easily add or change a date or event trigger. But I would guess
that based upon timing of the other parts of the plan, seemingly
isolated electronic systems will begin to fail in the next few
months. But, that's only a guess."

The most damaging types of Trojan Chips are those that already
have a lot of room for memory. The Spook described how mostly
static RAM, (Random Access Memory) chips and various ROM chips,
(Read Only Memory) such as UV-EPROM and EEPROM were used to house
the destructive instructions for later release in computer sys-
tems.

"It's really simple. There are always thousands of unused gates
in every IC. Banks and banks of memory for the taking. Homosoto
was no slouch, and he recognized that hardware viruses are the
ultimate in underground computer warfare. Even better than the
original Trojan Horse. No messy software to worry about, and
extensive collateral damage to nearby electronic components.
Makes repairs terrifically expensive."

Which chips are to be considered suspect? The Spook was clear.

"Any RAM or ROM chips with the OSO logo and a date code after
1/89 are potentially dangerous. They should be swapped out
immediately for new, uninfected components. Also, OSO sold their
chips, in die form, to other manufacturers to put their own names
on them. I wish I knew to whom, but Homosoto's firm handled all
of that."

The Spook also said to beware of any electronic device using OSO
labeled or OSO made LS logic chips. Hundreds of millions of the
LS logic chips, the so called Glue of electronics, are sold every
year. In the electronics world they are considered 'dime-store'
parts, selling for a few pennies each. However, in most elec-
tronic systems, an inexpensive component failure is just as bad
as an expensive component failure. In either case, it stops
working.

The Spook continues: "The idea was to build a small timebomb
into VCR's, televisions and radios. Not only computers, but
alarm systems, cash registers, video games, blowing up all at
once. At times it got very funny. Imagine dishwashers spitting up
gallons of suds in kitchens everywhere. The ovens will be cook-
ing pork tartar and toast a la burnt. What happens when Betty-
Jean doesn't trust her appliances any more? The return line at
Sears will be a week long."

I asked the Spook how this was possible? How could he inflict
such damage without anyone noticing? His answer is as indicting
as is his guilt. "No one checks. If the chip passes a few
simple tests, it's put into a calculator or a clock or a tele-
phone or an airplane. No one expects the chip to be hiding
something destructive, so no one looks for it. Not even the
military check. They just expect their chips to work in the
frozen depths of space and survive a nuclear blast. They don't
expect a virus to be lurking."

No matter what one thinks of the nameless, faceless person who
hides behind the anonymity of these computerized confessions, one
has to agree that the man known as the Spook has awakened this
world to many of the dangers that unbridled technical proficiency
brings. Have we taken too much liberty without the concomitant
responsibility? I know that I find I wish I could run parts of
my life in fast forward. Sitting in a movie theater, I feel
myself tense as I realize I cannot speed up the slow parts. Has
the infinite flexibility we have given ourselves outpaced social
conscience?

Ironically, conversations with the Spook tended to be impersonal;
not machine-like, but devoid of concern for people. I asked him
if he cared.

"That was not the idea, as far as I know. In a way this was
electronic warfare, in the true sense of the word. Collateral
damage is unavoidable."

Hardware viruses in addition to software viruses. Is nothing
sacred?

* * * * *

Sunday, January 24
Washington, D.C.

"Does he know what he's saying?" Henry Kennedy said doubtfully.

"I think so, and I also think it's a brilliant way to put a huge
dent in the Japanese monopoly on integrated circuits." Marvin
Jacobs had an office installed not two doors from Kennedy's in
the subterranean mazes beneath the White House lawn.

"He can't blame the Japanese for everything."

"Don't you see? He's not? All he's saying is that OSO did it,
and he's letting the Japanese national guilt by association take
its course." Jacobs seemed pleased. "Mason's chippers will
cast a shadow of doubt on everything electronic made in Japan.
If it has OSO's name on it, it'll be taboo. Toshiba, Mitsubishi,
Matsushita . . .all the big Nippon names will be tarnished for
years."

"And you actually want this to happen?" asked Henry.

"I didn't say that," Marvin said slithering away from a policy
opinion. "Hey, what are you complaining about? Mason gave us
the article like you wanted, didn't he?"

"I told you there were other ways," Kennedy shot back.

"Well, for your information, there's a little more that he didn't
tell us about," said Jacobs haughtily.

"And how did you find out? Pray tell?"

Marvin grinned devilishly before answering. "CMR. Van Eck.
Whatever. We have Mason covered."

"You're using the same . . ."

"Which is exactly how we're going to fight these bastards."

"At the expense of privacy?"

"There is no clear cut legal status of electromagnetic emanations
from computers," Marv said defensively. "Are they private? Are
they free to anyone with a receiver, like a radio or TV? No one
has tested the theory yet. And that's not to say we've tried to
publicize it. The FCC ruled in 1990 that eavesdropping on cellu-
lar telephone calls was legal. By anyone, even the government."
Marvin was giving a most questionable technical practice an aura
of respectability hidden behind the legal guise of freedom.
Kennedy was uncomfortable with the situation, but in this case,
Marv had the President's ear.

"And screw privacy, right? All in the name of national security."
Henry did not approve of Marvin's tactics.

"It's been done before and it'll be done again," Marvin said
fairly unconcerned with Kennedy's opinions and whining. "Citing
National Security is a great antidote to political
inconvenience."

"I don't agree with you, not one iota!" blasted Kennedy. "This
is a democracy, and with that comes the good and the bad, and one
premise of a democracy is the right to privacy. That's what
shredded Nixon. Phone taps, all the time, phone taps."

"Henry, Henry," begged Marv to his old time, but more liberal
minded friend. "This is legal." Marvin's almost wicked smile
was not contagious. "It's not illegal either."

Kennedy frown deeply. "I think you take the NSA's charter as
national listening post to an extreme," he said somberly.

"Henry, Are you going to fight me on this?" Marv asked finally.

"No," sighed Henry Kennedy. "The President gave you the task, I
heard him, and I'm here to support his efforts. I don't have to
agree . . .but it would help."

* * * * *

"Don't worry. The speech will make him sound like an expert,
like he actually knows what he talking about. Not a man who
thinks Nintendo is Japanese slang for nincompoop." Phil Musgrave
called Henry Kennedy's office in the basement.

Phil joked with Henry about the President's legendary technical
ineptness. One time while giving a speech to the VFW, the sound
went out. Trying to be helpful, the President succeeded in
plugging an 'in' into an 'out' which resulted in a minor amount
of smoke, an embarrassing false security alert, and the subse-
quent loss of any sound reinforcement at all.

"You know how I feel about him, Phil," said Henry with concern.
"I support him 110%. But this is a new area for all of us. We
don't have the contingency plans. Defense hasn't spent years
studying the problem and working out the options or the various
scenarios. Phil, until recently viruses and hackers were consid-
ered a non-problem in the big picture."

"I know, Henry, I know, but the politicians had to rely on the
experts, and they argued and argued and procrastinated . . ."

"And Congress, as usual, didn't do shit." Kennedy completed the
statement. "That doesn't change the fact that he's winging it.
Christ, we don't even know the questions much less the answers
and, well, we know he calls 911 to change a lightbulb." His
affection for the President was clear through the barb. "And
you know what really pisses me off?"

"What's that?"

"Jacobs. He seems pleased with the turn of events."

"He should," agreed Phil nonchalantly. "He just won a major
battle. He's got security back under his thumb. A nice politi-
cal coup."

"No, not that," Henry said cautiously. "It's just that I think
he's acting too much the part of the renegade. Do you know what
I mean?"

"No, not at all," laughed Phil. "He's just playing it his way,
not anyone elses. C'mon, now, you know that."

"I guess . . ."

"Besides, Henry," he said glancing at his watch. "It's getting
to be that time." They agreed to watch the speech from the
sidelines, so they could see how the President's comments were
greeted by the press.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States." An
assistant White House press agent made the announcement to the
attendant Washington press pool. The video was picked up by the
CNN cameras as it was their turn to provide a feed to the other
networks. Sunday evening was an odd time to call a press confer-
ence, but everyone had a pretty good idea that the subject was
going to be computers. Thus far, government comments on the
crisis had come from everywhere but the White House.

The President rapidly ambled up to the podium and placed his
notes before him. He put on his glasses and stared at the camera
somberly. It was speeches that began this way, without a prean-
nounced subject matter, that caused most Americans who grew up
during the Cold War to experience a sinking feeling in their
stomachs. They still thought about the unthinkable. As usual
the press corps was rapt with attention.

"Good evening," the President of the United States began slowly.
"I am speaking to you tonight on a matter of great concern to us
all. A subject of the utmost urgency to which we must address
ourselves immediately.

"That subject is, information. The value of information.

"As I am sure most of you are aware, one man, Taki Homosoto,
threatened the United States this last week. It is about that
very subject that I wish to speak to the country, and the world."
The President paused. He had just told the country what he was
going to say. Now he had to say it.

"For all practical purposes, the United States is undergoing an
electronic Pearl Harbor, and the target is one of the most cru-
cial segments of our way of life: Information.

"Information. What is information? Information is news. Infor-
mation is a book, or a movie or a television show. Information
is a picture, it's a word and it's a gesture. Information is
also a thought. A pure idea.

"Information is the single commodity, a common denominator upon
which all industrial societies must rely. Data, facts, opinions,
pictures, histories, records, charts, numbers. Whether that data
is raw in nature, such as names, addresses and phone numbers, or
it consists of secret governmental strategies and policies or
proprietary business details, information is the key building
block upon which modern society functions.

"Information is the lifeblood of the United States and the world.

"As first steam, and then coal and then gas and oil, now informa-
tion has become an integral driving force of the economy.
Without information, our systems begin to collapse. How can
modern society function without information and the computers
that make America what it is? Effectively there are no longer
any nationalistic boundaries that governments create. Information
has become a global commodity. What would our respective cul-
tures look like if information was no longer available?

"We would not be able to predict the weather. Credit cards would
be worthless pieces of plastic. We would save less lives without
enough information and the means to analyze it. We need massive
amounts of information to make informed decisions in government
policies and actions.

"What if banks could no longer transfer money because the comput-
ers were empty? How could the airlines fly if there were no pas-
senger records? What good is an insurance company if its clients
names are nowhere on file? If there was no phone book, who could
you call? If hospitals had no files on your medical history,
what treatment is required? With a little effort, one can imag-
ine how difficult it would be to run this planet without informa-
tion.

"Information, in short, is both a global and a national strate-
gic asset that is currently under attack.

"Information and the information processing industry has come to
represent a highly significant piece of our gross national
product; indeed, the way we live as Americans, enjoying the
highest standard of living in the world, is due in large part to
the extraordinary ability of having information at our fingertips
in a second's notice. Anything we want in the form of informa-
tion can literally be brought into our homes; cable television,
direct satellite connections from the back yard. The Library of
Congress, and a thousand and one other sources of information are
at our fingertips from our living room chair.

"Without information, without the machinery that allows the
information to remain available, a veritable national electronic
library, the United States steps back thirty years.

"Information is as much a strategic weapon in today's world as is
the gun or other conventional armaments. Corporate successes are
often based upon well organized data banks and analytic tech-
niques. Government functions, and assuredly the Cold War was
fought, on the premise that one side has more accurate informa-
tion than its adversary. Certainly academia requires the avail-
ability of information across all disciplines. Too, the public
in general relies upon widespread dissemination of information
for even the simplest day to day activities.

"It is almost inconceivable that society could function as we
know it without the data processing systems upon which we rely.

"It is with these thoughts that those more expert than I can
speak at length, but we must realize and accept the responsibili-
ty for protecting that information. Unfortunately, we as trust-
ing Americans, have allowed a complacency to overshadow prudent
pragmatism.

"Over the last weeks we have begun to see the results of our
complacency. The veins of the nation, the free flow of informa-
tion, is being poisoned.

"Both the government and the private sector are to blame for our
state of disarray and lack of preparedness in dealing with the
current crisis. We must be willing, individually and collective-
ly, to admit that we are all at fault, then we must fix the
problem, make the sacrifice and then put it behind us.

"It is impossible for the Government to deny that we have failed
miserably in our information security and privacy implementation.
Likewise, the value of the accumulation of information by the
private sector was overlooked by everybody. Fifteen years ago,
who could have possibly imagined that the number of businesses
relying on computers would have jumped more than a hundred thou-
sand fold.

"Today, the backbone of America, the small businessman,
20,000,000 strong, the one man shop, provides more jobs than the
Fortune 1000. And, the small businessman has come to rely on
his computer as Big Business has for decades. His survival, his
success is as critical to the stability of the United States'
economy as is a General Motors or an IBM. We must defend the
small business as surely as we must defend our international
competitiveness of industrial leaders.

"The wealth of this country was once in steel mills, in auto
plants, in manufacturing. The products built by the United
States were second to none. Made in the U.S.A. was a proud
label, one that carried a premium worldwide. Our technological
leadership has never been in question and has been the envy of
the world for over 200 years. Franklin, Fulton and Edison. The
Wright Brothers, Westinghouse, Ford. As a nation the Manhattan
Project reaffirmed our leadership. Then Yaeger and the speed of
sound. The transistor. DNA decoded. The microchip. The Moon.
The computer.

"Yet there was a subtle shift occurring that escaped all but the
most vigilant. We were making less things, our concentration on
manufacturing was slowly shifting to an emphasis on technology.
Communications, computers. Information processing. No longer
are cities built around smokestacks spewing forth the byproducts
of the manufacturing process. Instead, industrial parks sprout
in garden-like settings that encourage mental creativity.
Fifteen percent of the American workforce no longer drive to the
office. They commute via their computers at home.

"The excitement of the breakneck pace of technology masked the
danger in which we were placing ourselves. Without realizing it,
a bulk of this nation's tangible wealth was being moved to the
contents of a computer's memory. We took those first steps
toward computerization hesitantly; we didn't trust the computer.
It was unfamiliar, foreign, alien. But when we embraced the
computer, we unquestioningly entrusted it with out most precious
secrets.

"Unlike the factory though, with the fence, the gates, the dogs,
the alarms and the night guards, we left our computers unprotect-
ed. Growing bigger and faster computers took precedence over
protecting their contents.

"We were warned, many times. But, as I said earlier, neither
your government nor its constituency heeded the warnings with
enough diligence. Protection of government information became a
back-burner issue, a political hot cake, that in budget crunches,
was easy to overlook. Overclassification of information became
the case of the 'The Spy Who Cried Wolf.' The classification
system has been abused and clearly does not serve us well. At my
direction it will receive a thorough overhaul.

"Personal privacy has been ignored. Your government is in pos-
session of huge amounts of data and yet there is no effort at
protecting the non-classified privacy of individuals in our
computers.

"The private sector faces another dilemma. The unresponsiveness
of the Federal Government to the protection of its own informa-
tion did not set a good example for industry, and their comput-
ers, too, remained vulnerable.

The President paused from reading his speech to pour a glass of
ice water.

"Nothing can stop the fact that the United States is under at-
tack. Nothing can change the fact that the attack cannot be
turned away. And nothing can change the fact that America will
suffer significant disruptions and inconvenience for some time.
But we can minimize the damage. We can prepare for the inevita-
ble obstacles we will face.

"The poison that Mr. Homosoto put into the American information
society is the equivalent of electronic biological warfare. He
has senselessly and vengefully struck out against the United
States in a manner that I describe as an act of war.

"In order to deal with this real threat to the security of the
United States of America, I have taken several steps that are
designed to assist in weathering the storm.

"First, I am assigning the Director of the National Security
Agency to coordinate all efforts at defending against and mini-
mizing the effects of the current crisis. The NSA has the expe-
rience and resources, and the support of this President to manage
an operation of this complexity and importance. In addition,
representatives from GCHQ in the United Kingdom and other ITSEC
members from Germany, France and Holland will coordinate European
defensive strategies.

"Second, I am activating the following four groups to assist the
NSA in their efforts. ECCO, the Emergency Computer Crisis Organ-
ization, has acted as an advisor to law enforcement agencies
across the country and has been instrumental in providing the
technical support to the FBI and the Secret Service in their
computer crime investigations.

"CERT, the Computer Emergency Response Team was created by the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as an outgrowth of the
1988 INTERNET Worm incident. Carnegie Mellon University where
CERT is headquartered has donated the facilities and staff of
their Software Engineering Institute to deal with the invasion of
our computers.

"The Defense Data Network Security Coordination Center was based
at the Stanford Research Institute by the Defense Communications
Agency to coordinate attacks against non-classified computer
systems.

"Lastly, CIAC, the Computer Incident Advisory Capability manages
computer crises for the Department of Energy at Lawrence Liver-
more Laboratories.

"These are the organizations and the people who will guide us
through the coming adversities. It is they who are responsible
to insure that America never again finds itself so vulnerable.
So open to attack. So helpless in our technological Achilles
Heel.

"The organizations I mentioned, and the government itself have
not yet been tested in a crisis of significant magnitude. This
is their maiden voyage, so to speak, and it is incumbent on us,
the American people, to make their job as easy as we can by
offering our complete cooperation.

"And, tonight, that is what I am asking of you. Your assistance.
Your government cannot do it alone. Nor can small localized
individual efforts expect to be successful against an army of
invaders so large. We must team together, act as one, for the
good of the entire country. From the big business with 100,000
computers to the millions of men, women and children with a home
computer; from the small businessman to the schools, we need to
come together against the common enemy: the invasion of our
privacy and way of life.