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Down Under
Aussie customs computer system theft points to terrorist infiltration
2003-09-08
On the night of Wednesday, August 27, two men dressed as computer technicians and carrying tool bags entered the cargo processing and intelligence centre at Sydney International Airport. The men, described as being of Pakistani-Indian-Arabic appearance,
Racial profiling again.....but as dennis miller says, "when you notice 14 of 19 hijackers all come from the same place, thats not profiling -its minimally observant"
took a lift to the third floor of the Charles Ulm building in Link Road, next to the customs handling depot and the Qantas Jet Base. They presented themselves to the security desk as technicians sent by Electronic Data Systems, the outsourced customs computer services provider which regularly sends people to work on computers after normal office hours.
File under - "overseas outsourcing,risks of"
After supplying false names and signatures, they were given access to the top-security mainframe room. They knew the room’s location and no directions were needed.
really? and how did they know that?
Inside, they spent two hours
unsupervised- on raised floor, I find this amazing.
disconnecting two computers, which they put on trolleys and wheeled out of the room, past the security desk, into the lift and out of the building.
two specific computers, not just the ones right next to the doors. I wonder why they picked these?
The brazen theft has prompted Australia’s top security agencies to conduct emergency damage audits amid fears that terrorists may have gained access to highly sensitive intelligence from the computers.
Lets all try to remember that although the average terrorist can't hit a damn thing with his rifle marksmanship, they are not dumb. stupid yes, but not dumb.
The Australian Federal Police and ASIO, the two chief guardians against terrorism, fired off angry memos to customs officials, demanding to know the extent to which their top-secret operations have been compromised.
To: Aussie Customs
From: Aussie Cop Shoppe
Gentlemen:
Who the hell's handling your security? The Filipinos?
Sincerely,
The Cops
Lets assume the worst. Please go to www.google.com and look up "german enigma machine-bletchley park"
The Australian Customs Service has admitted the security blunder, but told customs officers in an email that no sensitive operational information was lost.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened. None. Nope..."
This brought angry rebuttals from customs officers who claimed that the two mainframe servers held thousands of confidential files, including top-secret communications between customs investigators and the AFP and ASIO.
"Well, hardly any then... Not many thousands... It was only a few... And some of them were old...
They point to the fact that all officers have been instructed to change passwords which give them access to the system, but a spokesman for the Customs Minister, Chris Ellison, said this was a "precautionary measure". The theft is being investigated by the AFP, which is conducting 65 counter-terrorist operations against nationalist groups in Australia and international terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah. Customs officers believe the thieves had inside information because they knew how to bypass security, how to identify themselves and where to go, plus the fact that the mainframe room was regularly entered after hours for maintenance.
bingo.....now, what was the name of that guy we let go last month, mohammed what-his-name.......
The Community and Public Sector Union, which represents customs officers, has asked for guarantees that none of its members is at risk as a result of the theft.
Ohfergawdsake.
The union expressed fears that the lives of undercover agents could be jeopardised after officers claimed that customs officials were covering up the true extent of the damage. Also at risk, they said, are operations against terrorists and international drug cartels in which customs officers watch the movements of suspects and suspicious cargo in and out of the country.
One tactic is to let the indivdual customs agents know that their home addresses are know to the terror community. You'd be surprised how helpful that is in getting your contraband in and out without any hassle.
They stressed that terrorists had the most to gain by stealing the servers. "The servers have no value except the information they contain," an officer said.
he says this like its no big deal. information is power, you meathead!
"They would have personal internal email accounts, probably the passwords for those accounts, and any information harboured within them. Customs officers use the accounts to communicate volumes of sensitive operational material and intelligence to each other, including information from other agencies such as AFP and ASIO. This would be at risk."
... he said, with characteristic understatement.
The spokesman for Senator Ellison said: "Extensive testing of the system is being carried out to determine whether it has been compromised by the theft. No evidence has emerged to indicate that there has been any intrusion. Customs has been advised that the servers did not contain personal, business-related or national security information.
"Nothin' but junk files, really..."
"Nevertheless, arrangements were made to change all staff passwords as a precautionary measure. All staff have been asked to report any irregularities in their access arrangements to the system. As the matter is subject to an ongoing investigation, it is inappropriate to comment further. Although there is no evidence of an intrusion, Senator Ellison has called for a full report." A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General, Daryl Williams, who is responsible for ASIO, said: "This is an issue for customs. It is not a national security issue."
bullshit detector just went into the red.....
Damn! The needle on my BSD bent right around the peg!

Posted by:Frank Martin

#6  Hey, what's up with this? Them Aussies have cameras all over the damned place, so these guys should've been caught on tape. Right? RIGHT?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2003-9-8 6:12:34 PM  

#5  Tell Mahmoud to call Stevey at the Help Desk: 1 800 ASSHOLE. He should be able to help him out... if he's not too busy "moking meed".
Posted by: tu3031   2003-9-8 5:01:24 PM  

#4  These two computers are somewhere in Pushtunistan, where Mahmoud "The Tech" is trying to set them up. I wonder: does Mahmoud hail from the Arabian peninsula, Baghdad, Tehran or Cairo?
Posted by: Steve White   2003-9-8 4:38:45 PM  

#3  BSD is flashing, making "whoop-whoop" sound again, maybe we better shut it off, eh?

You'd think SOMEBODY would've noticed when the systems went down. There any operations staff anywhere?

I sure as hell don't let external contractors start pulling under-floor cables and jacking up units on MY floor, boys. They don't even go anywhere unsupervised. And that's AFTER a security check.

I think somebody needs a new gig.
Posted by: mojo   2003-9-8 3:04:01 PM  

#2  Doesn't smell like terrorists to me. Sounds like smugglers that service drug cartels and terrorists.
Posted by: Super Hose   2003-9-8 3:00:59 PM  

#1  If they are mainframes then they are not particularly useful for cracking code or designing
bombs. Mainframes have not superpowerful processors, what they have is the ability to drive LOTS of peripherals and have HUGE I/O bandwidth.
Posted by: JFM   2003-9-8 3:00:34 PM  

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