McKinnon – Friend or Foe?
I’ve been following, with some interest, the case of Gary McKinnon – the man who allegedly brought down the US military computer network in attempt to uncover the x-files “the truth is out there” – the US records of UFO activity.
The buzz around the media was that this was a heinous and deliberate attempt to cause mayhem at a particular time of heightened global tension, meaning the US were on high alert and watching closely any attempts to attack their beloved homelands.
What we now know is that the 97 individual PC’s that Gary accessed were not in fact part of the US military frontline, nor was it a brute-force and deliberate attempt to damage the US defence capability. In fact, the PC’s belong to US Army Military District of Washington network that merely dealt with the logistics of transporting military VIPs, managing the military brass band, and the ceremonial troops. What is even more interesting is that the US obviously didn’t believe these PC’s were of any significance as they were not even protected by basic measures such as passwords and anti-virus or malware detection software. Basically, the door was open for McKinnon and anyone else to walk right in.
The ONE server that was compromised was a web server which facilitated the above 97 and a number of other computers to access the internet and communicate to the outside world. Again, the US thought this server to be totally insignificant as the internet connection was not protected by even a basic firewall.
The over-exaggerated response from the US was purely because of the huge embarrassment they have now suffered as a result of these inadequacies being exposed to the world.
Instead of thanking Gary for identifying weaknesses caused by nothing more than the arrogance and grandiloquent belief that they are better than anyone, the US military cried foul-play and are completely determined to make an example of an ordinary UK citizen who’s only judgemental error was a deep curiosity about matters glamorised by such characters as Moulder & Scully.
In this day and age, anyone with a bit of nous knows full well that their home PC or laptop should have anti-virus software installed, and configured to regularly check for updates, and use basic encryption keys to protect their wireless router so that Andrew Crossley and his cronies can’t knock on their doors with accusations of illegally downloading copyrighted porn. Yet the might of the US military for some bizarre reason managed to overlook this.
The UK should have the balls to stand up to the bullies of the US and protect its citizens who are being victimised for stumbling across someone’s weakness and happen to expose it to the world.
Is it right that the legal system in the UK should bow down and say it has to comply with the Extradition Act, to a country who openly does not recognise the International Criminal Court, but choses to use its own “alternative” – Guantanamo Bay?
Further reading here:
