Evolving Threats In Cyber Warfare And Government Surveillance

The war against hackers is entering a new phase. In the UK and the US, behind the walls of usually bland-looking buildings and shielded from wireless hacking by lead-lined walls, the stuff of Hollywood films is being played out across giant . . . The war against hackers is entering a new phase. In the UK and the US, behind the walls of usually bland-looking buildings and shielded from wireless hacking by lead-lined walls, the stuff of Hollywood films is being played out across giant plasma screens.

Programmers, often working on behalf of government agencies, track, monitor and frenziedly alter code in a bid to patch up vulnerable and sometimes besieged networks.

"We are being sucked into an Orwellian nightmare," says one US-based hacker who calls himself Oxblood Ruffin. Oxblood, a member of the influential hacking group Hacktivismo, adds: "This [Magic Lantern] is a powerful tool and basically they have initiated a state-sponsored trojaning campaign with no judicial oversight. If you look at what's possible it's very scary. For instance, if there is no smoking gun, a rogue cop could plant a virtual one. It's possible to upload as well as download or browse the contents of a targeted user's machine. So if there are no kiddie porn pictures [on a computer] for instance, they can be uploaded and the doors kicked in five minutes later. No traces either."

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