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Show Hill AFB, Utah 84056 - 5824 Vol. 55 No. 7, February 17, 2000 c 4 INSIDE: Miles of lines link phones Page 2 Speaker test today Page 4 by Steven R. Ford Hilltop Times staff February has been declared Com- e-m- puter Security Month, and in response to a report from the Air Force and in light of recent global and domestic hacker attacks, Hill AFB officials are cracking down on World Wide Web security. What were seeing is thatthe Internet has evolved into something much bigger than it began , and because of that, and especially because were were findusing it to do ing that we do need that security, said 75th Communications Squadron commander Lt. Col. Robin Chad-derdoUnfortunately, there are members of our society that like to take advantage of others. Theyre out there in the normal community, and theyre out there in the electronic community. In an era where globally available Web pages are as easily published as newsletters, military personnel need to be cautious about security measures and the type and amount of information they splash onto the electronic superhighway. The comn. Care rules change Page 5 Quarterly awards presented 7 Page munications squadron regularly and fliers about sends out network and security, but password Hill personnel might not be aware of potential problems with their Webpages. Neither was the Japanese government. On Jan. 26, the Japanese called an emergency meeting after government Web sites were raided and ils Officials study cleanup Page 8 Claims Office helps with move Page 10 cracked by unknown hackers. One of their pages was linked to a pornographic site, and another was used as a billboard to attack Japanese World War II conduct. More recently on Feb. 9, hackers turned their attention to the big 388th Fighter Wing Fighter Country Page A-- C Why vaccinate for anthrax Page 15 New youth sports director Page 17 boys. Web giants like Yahoo!, eBay, eTrade, CNN.com andAmazon.com site on the Intersecond most-visite-d net. At CNN.com, a news broadcast was delayed for nearly two hours while system administrators worked to get the site back online. New site, BUY.com was taken offline on the very day of its initial public offering. Damage estimates have yet to be released, but just the attack on eBay sent company stock plunging to a 26 percent loss in five days, amounting to $5 million in lost revenues. The FBI is vigorously investigating the recent attacks, and they have indicated they are closing in on two likely suspects, one an American who goes by the hacker alias Coo-lio- , and a Canadian with the handle mafiaboy. In the new millennium, threats to the Air Force might come less in the form of foreign governments like Iraq and more in the form of electronic terrorists and invaders. In response to such threats, Pres- ident Clinton has recently urged Congress for $2 billion to protect the governments computer infrastructure. Im not sure the general public really understands that we have giants Yahoo!, eBay, Hackers, like those that recently attacked and Amazon.com, pose a very real security risk to base Web pages. As a result, the 75th Communications Squadron and Ogden ALC Public Affairs have begun a concerted effort to eliminate Web page security problems. entered into a new phase of war- trated by a hacker who left a mes- fare, Chadderdon said. Its no longer going to be strictly actual forces pitted against each other. We are in an information warfare age. We no longer need to hurt the enemy by using people. We can do it by using information. Chadderdon noted that unbe- knownst to the general public the Peoples Republic of China recently went online and tried to impact our information systems after the dental bombing of their embassy in Kosovo. At Hill alone, the communications squadron reports that its own systems are attacked frequently by both foreign and domestic hackers. One network system was recently infil sage saying that the passwords were too easy to crack. Web servers can often be less difficult due to the naivete of the page creators and the lack of necessary security measures. The base recently underwent an audit by theAir Force AuditAgency, and did not fare very well, noted Tech. Sgt. Timothy Trager, Public Affairs NCOIC. However, that result was not peculiar to this base. Many Air Force bases that were audited had the same result. The most common problems have been Web sites that have not been submitted to Public Affairs for secu- rity and policy approval and that D See Web, page 4 Briefings will discuss solving disputes by Alma C. Birkel gress, the Secretary of Defense Equal Employment Opportunity Counselor have said each Federal Agency The Deputy Dispute Resolution Specialist from the Office of General Counsel of the Air Force will visit Hill AFB to discuss the Alternate Dispute Resolution program. Joseph M. McDadeJr. and his staff will present briefings in the base theater, Bldg. 441, on Feb. a.m., p.m. and accommodate to swing p.m. shift supervisors. Managers and supervisors on all levels, and representatives from AFGE Local 1592 are encouraged to attend. As a way to help the Federal 24 from 3-- 9-1- 1 1-- 3 5 Government operate more effi- FEBRUARY 22 were inundated with bogus orders or requests for information, a form of spamming or sending massive The delamounts of junk uge of information crashed several of the Web companies servers and forced a denial of service to legitimate customers. The way a hacker or terrorist looks at a Web page is as a window to a vast supply of information that they can use, and that is scary, said Hill Webmaster John Gilcrist. We need to be extremely careful about the kind of information that we stick out there. For three hours, 1.4 million users were unable to access Yahoo!, the ciently and to encourage, where possible, consensual resolution of disputes and controversial issues, the President, the Con and the Secretary of the Air Force must promote the greater use of the Alternative Dispute Resolution program. The program is driven by the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996 that authorizes the voluntary g use of Dispute Resolution Proceedings. The program is intended to resolve disputes at the earliest stage feasible, by the fastest and least expensive method possible, and at the lowest possible organizational level by using various techniques such as mediation or facilitation. ADR processes are aimed at helping both parties resolve a dispute or reconcile the non-bindin- situation in a very effective method. ADR processes are flexible enough to open up the channels of communications and get down to the crux of the problem so the causes can be addressed more fully and more appropriately. The Office of General Counsel of the Air Force was given the prime responsibility to develop and implement the Air Force ADR Program. McDade and his team of civilian and military personnel have made significant strides with the program and recently won the Center for Public Resources award for Outstanding Achievement in the field of ADR. Last year they also won the federal government OPM Directors Award for Outstanding Alternative Dispute Resolution Program for 1999. McDade and his team have trained Air Force personnel and developed the ADR program on individual bases. The ADR Programs structure will ensure senior leadership and managers develop a con sensus regarding the programs scope and direction. The EEO Office at Hill coordinated efforts to have McDade and his staff present an awareness briefing to Hill managers. The Air Force efforts to promote ADR usage g and widespread, is therefore, educating and training efforts will continue. There are significant variations among individual Air Force installations regarding the use of ADR. Currently at Hill AFB, the ADR process of mediation is offered in the EEO arena and in the long-standin- Administrative Grievance System. However, at this time the use of ADR has not been nego-tiate- d for use in the Negoti- ated Grievance Procedure for bargaining unit employees. For more details, contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Office at Ext. |