European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 6, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday november 6, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 7 Dod defends computer safeguards paper says Grad student introduced from press dispatches Pentagon officials said Friday they eliminated an electronic Sims that played havoc with an unclassified Mili tary computer network wednesday. Meanwhile the new York times re ported saturday the virus that at tacked University and research computers across the United Stales was introduced by a graduate student whose father is one of the government s most respected computer Security experts. And a former Pentagon official familiar with communications Security said Friday there is concern in military circles that some key computer systems re in deed vulnerable id sabotage despite offi Cial Assurance 10 the contrary. Seeking to quell concern that key Mili tary computers Are vulnerable to similar sabotage. I Enla Aon officials declared it was impossible Tor such a virus to penetrate classified computer networks that manage nuclear weapons systems and store vital secrets such As War plans. Senior Pentagon communications officials said the virus a computer program that was discovered in a research data net work called arpanet spread to thou Sands of military corporate and University computer terminals across tie country. It disrupted the network for about 24 hours but did not destroy information. We believe we have sufficient Safe guards to thwart potential saboteurs of classified Pentagon computer Banks Raymond s. Colladay director of the defense advanced research projects Agency said at a press briefing Colladay and another Pentagon offi Cial army col. Thomas m. Herrick said the incident did not destroy any computer stored information and did not com Promise National Security. The primary Cost to the government and network users was the time lost and Effort spent tracking Down the software Bug and eliminating it they said. Herrick of the defense communications Agency said the virus apparently was t designed to do anything More than be a nuisance military experts have chosen to protect some key computer systems torn army col Thomas m. Herrick defends the Pentagon s computer system safeguards at a press conference Friday while Raymond s. Collady listens. Break ins or tampering with special operating instructions called trusted soft Ware designed to detect and thwart saboteurs and spies. But a number of experts have argued unsuccessfully that such precautions cannot Stop determined Ana Clever in truders a former official said can you gel into a classified system through an unclassified system he said. They say you can t. But i Don t think enough s been done in the world of son Ware so that you can guarantee that a Guy who s malicious can t get  a second expert a former Reagan administration official who helped manage computer Security programs agrees. It s True that if you have a stand alone computer that is in a Copper lined room you can protect it. But if it s linked you run the risk of penetration the former official said. Private experts said Friday the virus appeared to have been deliberately inserted into arpanet through a mail handling system in an individual terminal  was instructed to . Communications links o other terminals around the country. The new York times reported saturday n Cornell University student created the virus program. Quoting two sources re ported to have detailed knowledge of the Case the times said Robert t. Morris jr., virus1 23, Drolc the program As an Experiment that went haywire. The paper said the program eventually affected More than 6,000 computers or 10 percent of the systems linked through internet an International group of com Puter communications networks Robert Morrissr. Is chief scientist at the National computer Security Center in Bathe to my the Arm of the nation Al Security Agency devoted to protecting computers against attack. Morris 56, said the virus has raised he Public narc Ness to a considerable degree he said. It is Likely to make people More careful and More attentive to vulnerabilities in the  younger Morris flew to Washington and could not be reached for comment Fri Day the times said. He was planning to hire a lawyer and meet with officials of the defense communications Agency to Dis cuss he Case the times added in Washington the Fri said it would review the computer fraud and abuse act which deals with unauthorized a Cess to government computers or com Puter in two or More states. If records within the infected com Puter systems were destroyed or harmed the Fri could conduct a full scale investigation an official said. The arpanet network a system on which 300 universities private research Compa Nies and military experts Exchange information handles Only unclassified data. Some arpanet terminals also Are tied to a second network called Milne which offers varying Levels of Security for handlers of both secret and Public data. Some terminals on the a incl system s unclassified portion also were struck by the software virus. Colladay acknowledged that an open network such As arpanet which connects to thousands of individual users and runs according o unclassified operating instructions cannot easily be made immune to such attacks. He. Said analysts were marching Back through the network tree of computer terminals to determine the source of the virus. He said experts could pinpoint the geographic location where the Bug was delivered but would probably be unable to pinpoint a specific user As the perpetrator. Former of officer goes free in explosion Case Arlington a. A a decorated former air Force colonel who inadvertently shot a 30mm anti tank Shell into a service station gasoline pump has escaped criminal charges Arlington county general District judge Paul Sheridan Friday dismissed a Misdemeanour charge against Robert Dilger saying. I m convinced that1 you have suffered enough. The judge noted that Dilger scraped together $50,000 to help compensate the people injured by flying shrapnel in the August 19s6 explosion. Dilger pleaded no contest a Little Over a year ago to the Misdemeanour charge of discharging a firearm in a Public place. Sheridan postponed sentencing in order to give Dilger a Chance to try to compensate the people Hurt in the explosion three of the four people injured sued Dilger and. The Federal government. Attorneys for the injured said the government was partly at fault for supplying Dilger with ammunition. The army never admitted liability but one of Dilger s attorneys said the government agreed to pay 80 percent of the settlement to the victims. That. Agreement was reached about two weeks ago. It seems to me that the injured people have been satisfied Sheridan said. The. Local prosecutor did not object to the dismissal of the charge. Dilger who was trying to Market the 30mm anti tank Cannon to the Pentagon at the time of the Acci Dent refused comment after the hearing. Dilger told authorities he was filling his pickup truck with gasoline when tic noticed his companion. Raymond Donohue was examining the Cannon. When he tried to show Donohue How the weapon worked it went off. Nobody could have been More surprised than myself.". After the explosion Dilger said he picked up one victim and pulled her away from the burning pumps. Then moved the truck and another vehicle away from the pumps Dilger and Donohuk drove away from the scene but had second thoughts and said they started Cir cling Back toward the station when they were slopped by police. Sheridan said he considered criminal penalties be cause Dilger Winner of three Silver stars and four distinguished flying crosses in Vietnam left the scene of the Accident. Texas auf Orif est Forney Texas a thousands of starving cattle found along with More than 60 carcasses at a Northern Texas ranch had been moved there because of the drought and probably had not been fed since july authorities said. Their ribs were showing. A lot of them were completely Down. Some can t even Sec they re starved so much that they re Blind said Kaufman county sheriff Rob Ert Harris. He called it the worst ease of animal cruelty he had Ever seen. The discovery of the malnourished Santa go Trudis  has prompted a search for the person responsible for their condition. Ii in t something that happened overnight Harris said. I d say they Haven t been fed since they be been up Here in july. This has been Prog  King ranch in Southern Texas owned the estimated 3,000 rattle but they had been under the care of a Dallas Man Harris said. -. The cattle ended up in Forney because of he drought in Southern Texas said Ken York who operates the american livestock management co. Of Marshall the person responsible for taking care of the cattle never notified the King ranch of trouble when Northern Texas also was stricken by drought York said. The reports kept coming in and every indication was that things were of he said. Feed has been brought to the site and Harris said authorities would care for them ,. V some cattle were so malnourished they could not walk and feed had to be put in front of them. They re High bred cattle Harris said. They re Santa Gertrudis they re not just scrub  in the 1920s and 1930s the. King ranch crossed shorthorn and brahmans to develop the Santa Gertridis. \