The Nation : Pentagon Plans Computer ‘Virus’ Team

The Pentagon has decided to establish an emergency team of computer experts and a small crisis communications center to respond to future “virus” attacks on its scientific and contractor computer networks. The team will “include over 100 experts throughout the United States whose expertise and knowledge will be called upon when needed,” a Defense Department statement said. A Pentagon spokeswoman likened the group to “sort of a SWAT team” that will respond to computer security threats such as the virus created by a computer hacker that was found Nov. 2 to have entered unclassified defense computers. Should a defense computer network be hit with a rogue operating program or attacked by computer hackers, the group--called the Computer Emergency Response Team--will be mobilized. A special center at the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., will coordinate the group’s activity.