The electronic intrusion threat to national security and emergency preparedness telecommunications

The paper presents an assessment of the threat posed by individuals or groups that gain unauthorized access to elements of the nation´s public telecommunications infrastructure. These individuals and groups, who are referred to as electronic intruders, possess the skills and tools to cause disruptions or denials of service, remotely monitor telecommunications traffic, steal sensitive information from network elements, modify network data bases, and commit fraud. The United States Government is concerned with the threats from electronic intrusion because of its heavy reliance on public telecommunications networks to maintain communications in times of national emergency or crisis. The paper is based solely on open source information-case histories, electronic intruder files, technical journals, and other freely available data