Terminal Compromise, Winn Schwartau [sight word books txt] 📗

own game by too

much secrecy, developed a secret internal program to create a

Multiple-DES encryption standard with a minimum of three sequen-

tial iterations.

“Further embarrassment was caused when an Israeli mathematician

found the ‘trap door’ built into DES by the NSA and how to decode

messages in seconds. This quite clearly suggests that the gov-

ernment has been listening in on supposedly secret and private

communications.

“Then we have to look at another event that strongly suggests

that NSA has something to hide.”

“Mr. Hammacher!” Shouted Senator Rickfield. “I warned you about

that.”

“I see nothing wrong with his comments, Senator,” Deere said,

careful to make sure that she was heard over the sound system.

“I am the chairman of this committee, Ms. Deere, and I find Mr.

Hammacher’s characterization of the NSA as unfitting this forum.

I wish he would find other words or eliminate the thought alto-

gether. Mr. Hammacher, do you think you are capable of that?”

Hammacher seethed. “Senator, I mean no disrespect to you or this

committee. However, I was asked to testify, and at my own ex-

pense I am providing as accurate information as possible. If you

happen to find anything I say not to your liking, I do apologize,

but my only alternative is not to testify at all.”

“We accept your withdrawal, Mr. Hammacher, thank you for your

time.” A hushed silence covered the hearing room. This was not

the time to get into it with Rickfield, Nancy thought. He has

sufficiently embarrassed himself and the media will take care of

the rest. Why the hell is he acting this way? He is known as a

hard ass, a real case, but his public image was unblemished. Had

the job passed him by?

A stunned and incensed Hammacher gathered his belongings as his

lawyer placated him. Scott overheard bits and pieces as they

both agreed that Rickfield was a flaming asshole. A couple of

reporters hurriedly followed them out of the hearing room for a

one on one interview.

“Is Dr. Sternman ready?” Rickfield asked.

A bustle of activity and a man spoke to the dais without the

assistance of a microphone. “Yessir, I am.”

Sternman was definitely the academic type, Scott noted. A crum-

pled ill fitting brown suit covering a small hunched body that

was no more than 45 years old. He held an old scratched brief-

case and an armful of folders and envelopes. Scott was reminded

of the studious high school student that jocks enjoy tripping

with their feet. Dr. Sternman busied himself to straighten the

papers that fell onto the desk and his performance received a

brief titter from the crowd.

“Ah, yes, Mr. Chairman,” Sternman said. “I’m ready now.” Rick-

field looked as bored as ever.

“Thank you, Dr. Sternman. You are, I understand, a computer

virus expert? Is that correct?”

“Yessir. My doctoral thesis was on the subject and I have spent

several years researching computer viruses, their proliferation

and propagation.” Rickfield groaned to himself. Unintelligible

mumbo jumbo.

“I also understand that your comments will be brief as we have

someone else yet to hear from today.” It was as much a command

as a question.

“Yessir, it will be brief.”

“Then, please, enlighten us, what is a virus expert and what do

you do?” Rickfield grinned menacingly at Dr. Les Sternman, Pro-

fessor of Applied Theoretical Mathematics, Massachusetts Insti-

tute of Technology.

“I believe the committee has received an advance copy of some

notes I made on the nature of computer viruses and the danger

they represent?” Rickfield hadn’t read anything, so he looked at

Boyers who also shrugged his shoulders.

“Yes, Dr. Sternman,” Nancy Deere said, “and we thank you for

your consideration.” Rickfield glared at her as she politely

upstaged him yet again. “May I ask, though, that you provide a

brief description of a computer virus for the benefit of those

who have not read your presentation?” She stuck it to Rickfield

again.

“I’d be happy to, madam Chairwoman,” he said nonchalantly. Rick-

field’s neck turned red at the inadvertent sudden rise in Senator

Deere’s stature. For the next several minutes Sternman solemnly

described what a virus was, how it worked and a history of their

attacks. He told the committee about Worms, Trojan Horses, Time

Bombs, Logic Bombs, Stealth Viruses, Crystal Viruses and an

assorted family of similar surreptitious computer programs.

Despite Sternman’s sermonly manner, his audience found the sub-

ject matter fascinating.

“The reason you are here, Dr. Sternman, is to bring us up to

speed on computer viruses, which you have done with alacrity, and

we appreciate that.” Rickfield held seniority, but Nancy Deere

took charge due to her preparation. “Now that we have an under-

standing of the virus, can you give us an idea of the type of

problems that they cause?”

“Ah, yes, but I need to say something here,” Sternman said.

“Please, proceed,” Rickfield said politely.

“When I first heard about replicating software, viruses, and this

was over 15 years ago, I, as many of my graduate students did,

thought of them as a curious anomaly. A benign subset of comput-

er software that had no anticipated applications. We spent

months working with viruses, self cloning software and built

mathematical models of their behavior which fit quite neatly in

the domain of conventional set theory. Then an amazing discovery

befell us. We proved mathematically that there is absolutely no

effective way to protect against computer viruses in software.”

Enough of the spectators had heard about viruses over the past

few years to comprehend the purport of that one compelling state-

ment. Even Senator Rickfield joined Nancy and the others in

their awe. No way to combat viruses? Dr. Sternman had dropped

a bombshell on them.

“Dr. Sternman,” said Senator Deere, “could you repeat that?

“Yes, yes,” Sternman replied, knowing the impact of his state-

ment. “That is correct. A virus is a piece of software and

software is designed to do specific tasks in a hardware environ-

ment. All software uses basically the same techniques to do its

job. Without all of the technicalities, if one piece of software

can do something, another piece of software can un-do it. It’s

kind of a computer arms race.

“I build a virus, and you build a program to protect against that

one virus. It works. But then I make a small change in the

virus to attack or bypass your software, and Poof! I blow you

away. Then you build a new piece of software to defend against

both my first virus and my mutated virus and that works until I

build yet another. This process can go on forever, and frankly,

it’s just not worth the effort.”

“What is not worth the effort, Doctor?” Asked Nancy Deere. “You

paint a most bleak picture.”

“I don’t mean to at all, Senator.” Dr. Sternman smiled soothing-

ly up at the committee and took off his round horn rim glasses.

“I wasn’t attempting to be melodramatic, however these are not

opinions or guesses. They are facts. It is not worth the effort

to fight computer viruses with software. The virus builders will

win because the Virus Busters are the ones playing catch-up.”

“Virus Busters?” Senator Rickfield mockingly said conspicuously

raising his eyebrows. His reaction elicited a wave of laughter

from the hall.

“Yessir,” said Dr. Sternman to Rickfield. “Virus Busters.

That’s a term to describe programmers who fight viruses. They

mistakenly believe they can fight viruses with defensive software

and some of them sell some incredibly poor programs. In many

cases you’re better off not using anything at all.

“You see, there is no way to write a program that can predict the

potential behavior of other software in such a way that it will

not interfere with normal computer operations. So, the only way

to find a virus is to already know what it looks like, and go out

looking for it. There are several major problems with this

approach. First of all, the virus has already struck and done

some damage. Two it has already infected other software and will

continue to spread. Three, a program must be written to defeat

the specific virus usually using a unique signature for each

virus, and the vaccine for the virus must be distributed to the

computer users.

“This process can take from three to twelve months, and by the

time the virus vaccine has been deployed, the very same virus has

been changed, mutated, and the vaccine is useless against it. So

you see, the Virus Busters are really wasting their time, and

worst of all they are deceiving the public.” Dr. Sternman com-

pleted what he had to say with surprising force.

“Doctor Sternman,” Senator Rickfield said with disdain, “all of

your theories are well and good, and perhaps they work in the

laboratory. But isn’t it true, sir, that computer viruses are an

overblown issue that the media has sensationalized and that they

are nothing more than a minor inconvenience?”

“Not really, Senator. The statistics don’t support that conclu-

sion,” Dr. Sternman said with conviction. “That is one of the

worst myths.” Nancy Deere