Speaker warns of potential computer infiltration, disaster

Brant Greene, vice president for electronic commerce at CAMP, Inc., says the nation's computer infrastructure is in peril. And he warned that people will remain oblivious to this danger until disaster strikes.

In West Hall yesterday, Greene gave a speech centering on the vulnerabilities of technological infrastructures.

Greene, who recently held a position on the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, spoke to an audience of about 40 people.

Greene's presentation focused on how "we can put things in place to make the worst-case scenario actually not so bad."

He said it is common knowledge that technology is continuing to improve. Computers are becoming increasingly intelligent, and with this intelligence, more parts of the public and private sectors are becoming interdependent on electronic infrastructures. But computers are very prone to infiltration by hackers, Greene said.

Water, oil, gas and telecommunication industries all depend on computer networks. If infiltrated, this public knowledge could become a concern for national security and public welfare.

The nation's economic strength is also at risk, Greene said.

"The speech really opens your eyes to look at infrastructures a different way," said Kim, a graduate student in the School of Information. "However, it doesn't have the shock value it would have had, say, 20 years ago."

Greene said the possibility of a criminal taking over the telecommunication system is high, noting that it has happened before. "We've had, in the past, a takedown of the 911 system, where perpetrators purposefully disabled the emergency system," Greene said.

Physical takeovers should be considered as well - if a criminal sabotages the San Francisco Bridge, for example, large fiber optic cables will be broken and "cut down telecommunication of a whole nation, just by attacking one geographic area," Greene said.

As systems become increasingly complicated, their complexity alone is a vulnerability, however, Greene said. "An investment in assurance of infrastructure safety won't happen until an utter disaster like Pearl Harbor occurs," he said.

11-20-97