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Dec 28, 1999 - 02:08 AM

Air Force to Close Some Public Web Sites to Thwart Y2K Hackers Associated Press Writer The Associated Press

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Fearing attacks by computer hackers, some Air Force bases plan to block access to their public World Wide Web sites over the New Year's weekend, officials say. Others bases have been asked to consider closing down their sites temporarily.

"Each one of the Web masters were told they might want to consider any vulnerabilities," Maj. John Anderson, an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon, said Monday. For some, he said, that means blocking access at a prime time for Internet pranks.

Timothy Conley, deputy director of the 88th Communications Group at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, estimates there are about 30 public Web sites maintained at the base - from pages for the United States Air Force Museum to the Air Force Institute of Technology.

The concern, he said, is that hackers emboldened by widespread Y2K computer concerns could insert viruses that would alter or destroy information on the sites.

"We feel they may plant some things on servers or e-mail that might go off after (Jan. 1)," Conley said.

He said there is no threat to national security because the public-access sites are separated from secure sites, which will remain operational.

The Pentagon's main Web site should stay operational over the weekend, said spokeswoman Susan Hansen. Even so, officials there have voiced concern about attacks from cyberspace, and say special precautions will be taken.

Each of the military services has its own network monitoring stations, and a centralized Pentagon network monitoring system has been set up in Arlington, Va.

Jim Neighbors, manager of the Air Force's Y2K program, said any attacks on the Air Force sites would amount to a nuisance.

"I liken it to somebody going in and defacing a wall with a can of spray paint," he said.

AP-ES-12-28-99 0205EST ) Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 28, 1999