This story paints a scary picture......

EDITORIAL

Scary computer theft

IF THIS DOESN'T MAKE you nervous, you aren't paying attention. Theft of computer programming instructions from Cisco Systems could give hackers access to vital personal information all across the Internet.

Although the story is nearly a year old, details have been leaking out in dribs and drabs for a while now. Each successive news item is a bit worse than the one before it.

The latest little bombshell is that investigators acknowledge that the Cisco break-in last year was only part of a greater operation involving a single person or a small band of people based in Europe. Officials also said that thousands of computer systems were similarly penetrated.

Investigators said they spent nearly a year pursuing the case as the attacks continued to breach computers serving the U.S. military, NASA and prominent research laboratories.

Authorities candidly admit that they do not know how much information was taken or destroyed.

The kicker to this story is that authorities in Sweden have charged a 16-year-old in Uppsala, Sweden, with breaking in to university computers in his hometown. U.S. and Swedish authorities find him to be a person of extreme interest in the Cisco Systems case because investigators here had traced many of the intrusions to Uppsala.

It also is interesting to note that the hacking cases stopped following his arrest in March for the university break-ins.

This case illustrates a number of frightening and disturbing facts. It demonstrates not only the ease with which someone can penetrate sensitive computers from anywhere in the world, but also the difficulty authorities have in tracking the culprits.

This particular case has taken a year to pursue. Maybe it was a 16-year-old prankster -- this time. But it forces a crucial question: What if a terrorist organization wanted to wreak havoc on either our military system or our economic system? This shows that neither would be a difficult chore.

After Sept. 11, the FBI realized that it needed to upgrade its computer capabilities, but it hasn't done that fast enough. This is an area where it must concentrate substantial resources for the foreseeable future. Failure to do so could result in devastating consequences.