The Foreign Service Journal, December 2005

China-origin computer hacking effort known as Titan Rain,” the department’s response was carefully worded. It acknowledged that “attempts to intrude on Web sites are a fact of life on the Internet,” but stated that State has “… had no successful intrusions on our public Web sites, either in the U.S. or abroad.” State then directed further inquiries to the Department of Homeland Security. This answer begs two questions. First, the fact that there were no “successful intrusions” does not fore- close the possibility that there were unsuccessful intru- sions. Second, and perhaps more significantly, Titan Rain hackers have targeted sensitive networks and databases, not merely public Web sites. Thus, it remains unclear whether the State Department’s more sensitive networks and databases were targeted. According to one unnamed official cited in an August 2005 story in The Washington Post , however, State was among the government agencies “…that have been hit” by Titan Rain hackers. Titan Rain represents an external threat to govern- ment computers. Additional cyberthreats may origi- nate from State Department employees who abuse their positions of trust and access. The department has not been immune from insider-perpetrated crime. In late 2004, two former State employees were sentenced to federal prison terms for their roles in a visa fraud scheme. Former Foreign Service officer Long N. Lee and her husband, Acey R. Johnson, a former consular associate, used their positions to issue approximately 200 illegal visas in return for bribes while stationed at posts in Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Fiji. While this con- spiracy does not involve hacking or cybercrime, it is instructive: cyberdefenses are mostly aimed outward. Yet, just as Lee and Johnson used their trusted status to commit visa fraud, there may be little to stop a rogue employee — or consultant or contractor — from down- loading sensitive diplomatic information or even drop- ping a time-delay virus into a computer system from the inside. F O C U S D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 47 2000 N. 14th Street • Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Telephone (703) 797-3259 Fax (703) 524-7559 Tollfree (800) 424-9500