Top Secrets of Military Found on Unprotected Sites
According to the news by Technewsworld.com on July 12, 2007, as per the
survey by the Associated Press, several documents have been displayed
on unprotected servers, which contain classified information, which
could severely affect the security of US Troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
The documents contains complete schematics of a military captive
holding facility located in southern Iraq, aerial photos of two
military landing fields outside Baghdad, geographical surveys and plans
for new fuel farm at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
The military authorities called it "need-to-know" data, which, if fall
into wrong hands (like terrorist groups), may pose serious threats. The
material of this document is so important and sensitive that the
officials denied to divulge any information in it when asked.
Director of the Internet Content Security for Trend Micro, Paul
Moriarty, speculated what could have happened is that someone wanted to
share large data files and they were too big for emails.
As published by technewsworld.com on July 12, 2007, Moriarty continued
that in that case, they will use the FTP (File Transfer Protocol). For
setting it up, it demands password protection, which can be a bit
tricky, but opening up for anonymous access is comparatively simpler.
Maybe, the respective person wishes to take it down later but forgot.
According to Technewsworld.com, Moriarty added that usually workers
chose shortcuts to make their job easier, which is human nature. But
these workers don't realize that the hackers always look for
opportunities in which they can find any open FTP sites.
The users of Internet cannot scour the site with a typical search
engine, but the FTP servers share the same address of the public
websites. To access it, users just have to replace the "http" or
"http:/www" in a web address with "ftp".
Some of them are saved with a password or a firewall, but others are
normally left open, which can be browsed by anyone who has an Internet
connection and can install anonymously their content.
As per the news by The Sydney Morning Herald on July 12, 2007, director
for Watchfire, a Waltham, Mass-based Web Security Company, Danny Allan,
said that every time when we access any type of server, it increases
the chances of any type of files put up on the server to monitor on a
continuous basis.
Related article: Top Law Enforcement Office Fails to Recognize A phishing E-Mail
ยป SPAMfighter News - 7/25/2007
