A Time article dated Thursday, June 21, 2007, titled Cyber Attack Hits Pentagon states that the Pentagon took as many as 1,500 computers offline because of a cyber attack, which occurred on Wednesday. The article stated that Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon sees hundreds of attacks a day and this one had no adverse impact on department operations. Employees whose computers were affected could still use their handheld BlackBerrys.
I'm not surprised that the Pentagon sees hundreds of attacks a day, but It is hard for me to believe that taking 1,500 systems offline had no impact on department operations. Sure employees could still deal with email via their BlackBerry's, but, even if the systems were used solely for administrative purposes, I would expect the employees would be hampered by a lack of access to spreadsheets, presenations, and other documents normally used in an office environment. Hopefully, the attackers didn't glean sensitive data from any of those systems.
I was surprised by Mr. Gates response when he was asked if his own e-mail account was affected. He responded "I don't do e-mail. I'm a very low-tech person." I understand that for his generation (he's 63 years old) email may not be as much a part of the fabric of business life as for younger Americans, but I was surprised to hear him state he doesn't use it at all, especially since his prior position was president of Texas A&M University.
