Giving away the secret

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jessica Switzer
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (USAFENS) --  In current times where modems come built into starter computers and Internet access can be as cheap, or in some cases cheaper, than regular telephone service, it seems everyone has a license to cruise the information super highway.

There is a variety of information and entertainment Web sites available on the ‘net’ and nearly as many chat rooms, instant message services and other ways for people to interact across the globe. Some of this interaction however, may not be on the level.

“People seem to think that talking to others about unclassified information is harmless, but it’s not,” said Capt. Eric Eibe, 39th Air Base Wing Operational Security Program manager. “Enough unclassified information pieced together may likely form a classified picture. I’ve seen too many times where a deployed military member will advertise in a chat room their full name, rank and unit and where they are currently deployed.”

Like any other kind of anti-terrorism and force protection actions, people should be careful about what information they share over the Internet and e-mail.

“With the dawn of the information age, our adversaries have another tool with which to acquire information we don’t want them to have,” said Capt. John Peresta, 39th ABW Antiterrorism and Force Protection chief. “Whether it’s done by hacking into computers or people mentioning sensitive information to friends and family through e-mail, computers have become a favorite for terrorists to gather information about military activities.”

While e-mail and chat rooms are a way for terrorists to get information directly from careless military members, home computers themselves are not immune from giving away information to enemies through spyware. Viruses, while not necessarily information gathering means, can be used to overwhelm a system and destroy it.

“There are many risks with hooking any system up to a network,” said Senior Airman Jennifer Heckle, 39th Communications Squadron information protection technician. “By hooking your computer to a network you are making it available to others, to include those that want to do harm to any system they can.”

Spyware is a program that gets on a person’s computer and, like the name indicates, spy on the user’s activities, said Airman Heckle. It can collect information like what the user types and what Internet sites they visit and transmits back to the source of the program, she said.

The implications of this type of program infecting a computer are far reaching, and to some, frightening. This kind of program can collect passwords, social security numbers and personal information that could be used to steal a person’s identity or even to access restricted sites.

While viruses and malicious programs like Trojan horses and worms have a variety of ways of getting on a computer, they all act and are activated in different ways.

“A virus needs human interaction to become malicious, usually in the form of an executable file,” said Airman Heckle. “The file is activated when a user clicks on or executes the program. A worm does not need human interaction. It can spread from machine to machine and has the ability to replicate itself without any human help.”

A Trojan horse, just like in Homer’s “Illiad,” uses another program to hide its presence, said Airman Heckle. Once the program is activated the Trojan horse begins to wreak havoc on the host system, launching pop-up ads and in some cases opening a backdoor for someone else to access the system.

Often systems are infected with these types of programs through shareware downloads.

“The best thing to do before you download software is to do research on it,” said Airman Heckle. “It is also highly encouraged to load the free antivirus software provided by the Air Force for home use.”

People can find this software at work on the Source. A link in the bottom right corner labeled “free antivirus software” leads to a site where people can download the program onto a CD or other storage device to take home and upload onto their computer.

“Whether you are using high speed or dial up Internet, you should always be aware of what sites you are accessing and downloading,” she said. “It is recommended you use any available software firewall that comes with your operating system and purchase a hardware firewall to enhance your security posture.”

Viruses and spyware put individuals and systems at risk but people should remember that often they are the weakest link in the OPSEC and AT/FP chain. People who don’t carefully review what they have written before hitting the “send” or “post” button put everyone at risk.