X-SciTech

Internet Security Goes Underground

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 9, 2000 / 5:49 PM EST / CBS

In a plain vanilla unmarked building in a place we are only allowed to say is near Washington DC, Jay Adelson's company, Equinix, has built a fortress-like complex. You could call it the Fort Knox of the Internet, reports CBS News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews.

Behind all the security, some of the nation's top Internet providers -- like America Online and e-commerce sites like E-trade -- now house valuable data servers and phone connections. The companies are trying to protect themselves and the Internet itself from saboteurs and terrorists.

Does Adelson fear the Internet could be physically attacked? "Absolutely," he answers.

So today no e-business moving billions of dollars can afford to have its physical assets, its phone lines and servers vulnerable to zealots and thieves -- criminals who could disrupt Internet access to millions of users and the world's economy.

"It's very real," says the FBI's Michael Vatis of the threat.

In Washington, Vatis runs the FBI's Cyber Security task force. Some of the security measures may be a bit Hollywood, he says, but the terrorist threat is not.

"A terrorist might see these tools as a way of disrupting the every day functioning of society for the purpose of sending a political message," Vatis says.

Perhaps the ultimate in Internet security is in Sandwich, England, where more than 100 of Britain's top Web sites have literally taken shelter in an underground bunker.

"Primarily our clients are Web based, running e-commerce sites," says Dominic Hawkin, whose company, A.L. Digital, runs the facility.

The bunker is a former Royal Air Force compound, 30 feet below ground and under nine feet of concrete.

Does Hawkin ever feel like James Bond? "Absolutely," he replies.

He says the Web sites and phone lines stored there could withstand a small nuclear bomb. Does he really need to be protecting against a nuclear attack? "I think its highly unlikely," he admits. "I think far more likely is the threat of theft or terrorist attack."

Terrorists have already shaken the online world, with the World Trade bombing in New York and the IRA's "Docklands" bomb in London. The IRA destroyed the servers of some of England's biggest banks and corporations.

"Millions of pounds worth of data was lost with no backup," Hawkin declares. He claims that bomb woke people up. "I think it was the turning point, when people became aware of physical security," he said.

With global reputations now at stake, the World Wide Web is going underground. And the same systems and equipment that once protected troops against war are now protecting the cyber economy.