Inside the Ring

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NDU hacked

Computers and information networks at the National Defense University (NDU), the Joint Chiefs military education school at Fort McNair in Washington, were hacked and damaged by unknown attackers, defense officials said.

The attacks, described by officials only as "malicious activity," caused the university to shut down all its network servers and replace laptop computers after the activity was detected last month. The costs were high, officials said.

Officials close to the situation said the computer intrusions were identified during routine maintenance and led to suspicions that the hackers had planted clandestine "trap doors" into the system that would allow them future access, or would facilitate computer attacks.

The only way to ensure the security of the systems was to replace them, we are told.

The shutdown forced the university's faculty and students to rely on personal e-mail and laptops, limiting work at the school.

NDU spokesman Dave Thomas declined to comment when asked about the hacking but said some laptops were replaced for faculty members.

Officials would not say where the attacks originated, but the shutdown of the entire computer network at NDU lasted from Dec. 18 until earlier this week. Official suspicions are focused on Chinese hackers, based on similar attacks on Pentagon and military computer networks.

Chinese-origin computer attacks, most likely government-sponsored action by hackers, crippled information systems at the Naval War College in Rhode Island in November and forced a similar collegewide shutdown.

Chinese hackers also were involved in the electronic theft in 2005 of hundreds of evaluation reports on Air Force officers, ranging from generals to captains. The information in the reports would be valuable to Chinese intelligence for its targeted agent recruitment efforts.