Yoani Sanchez addresses a conference on the Americas

Cuba capable of waging a cyberwar

BY MANUEL CEREIJO
pacpe@aol.com

During the last few weeks there have been thousands of cyber attacks on computers and computer networks in the U.S. government and private entities. The United States, because of its dependence on computers, is very vulnerable to such attacks. A cyber attack on the United States could crush our country and the world economy, which depends on the United States as the world's leading economy. If they take us down, they cripple everybody. The U.S. government has not publicly identified where the cyber attacks are coming from, but Cuba has such potential. A partially declassified CIA document released several years ago notes that Cuba started in 1991 to study how to interfere with computer networks. This project had a modest budget of $50,000. The Soviet Union maintained in Cuba the Lourdes electronic espionage base, to which Cuba did not have direct access. That base was dismantled in 2002, but there are others.

Upping the investment

In 1994, Cuba and Russia agreed to build a similar base in Bejucal, south of Havana. It became operational in December 1997 at a cost of $750 million. The Bejucal base shows the importance Cuba puts on cybernetics -- having gone from a $50,000 budget to $750 million in only six years. The Bejucal base has the capacity to listen to U.S. telecommunications, interfere with computer networks, read/change electronic files and, more important, change output commands of computers used to control infrastructure facilities. In 1999, China and Cuba signed an agreement, known as Operation Titan, which allows Chinese personnel to collaborate at the Bejucal base and other facilities in Cuba. Since 2002, Cuba has used China's satellites to operate the Bejucal base, which employs 1,100 engineers, technicians and staff. The Cuban government has emphasized training talented young engineers in computation and cybernetics. A select group has been placed in key positions in cyber facilities there. The Cuban government has declared publicly that computers have replaced canons in the modern asymmetric war. Here's a partial list of other Cuban cybernetic facilities I've found through years of research:

• The Electronic Warfare Batallion in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana cost $75 million. Its main task is interfering with telecommunications.
• The Cojimar electronic complex, east of La Habana, cost $40 million.
• The Wajay farm, also known as the Antenna Farm, near Bejucal cost $15 million and houses hundreds of special antennas.
• The antenna farm in Santiago in eastern Cuba is similar to the one in Wajay and cost about $15 million.
• The University of Informative Sciences was established in 2003 on the site of the old Russian
Lourdes base, enrolling 10,000 students in a five-year program.

In the summer of 2004, Cuba interfered with satellite communications from the United States to the people of Iran from the Bejucal base. That operation confirms Cuba's high technology and its close ties with Iran. Cuba and Iran, along with Sudan and Syria, are classified by the U.S. State Department as state sponsors of terrorism in its April report. Cuba is considered to have the most developed cyber infrastructure among those countries. American society, the media and civic and judicial institutions should realize that Cuba's cybernetic war threatens our democratic principles and freedom. We ignore it at our own peril.

Manuel Cereijo is an electrical and computer engineering professor who holds patents in manufacturing, telecommunications and control systems. He lectures at the University of Miami.

Software libre! Cuba develops own free Linux called 'Nova'

Eric Lai
ComputerWorld

February 12, 2009 (Computerworld) Cuba released its own distribution of the free Linux operating system this week, as the communist island seeks to wean its citizens and institutions from what it says is insecure, capitalist-produced Microsoft Corp. software, according to a report. The Reuters news service reported Wednesday that the new version is called Nova, and was introduced at a technical conference in Havana. Based on a Linux variant called Gentoo that is popular with highly technical users, Nova has been in development since 2007, according to the Associated Press, after Free Software guru Richard Stallman visited the island and persuaded government officials to move off Windows.

Microsoft software, such as Windows, is widely used in Cuba, though much of it is pirated, according to Reuters. About 20% of the computers in Cuba, where PC sales to the public only began last year, run Linux, Hector Rodriguez, dean of the School of Free Software at Cuba's University of Information Sciences, told Reuters. "I would like to think that in five years our country will have more than 50% migrated [to Linux]," he said.

A three-minute video demonstrating Nova Baire, the Cuban Linux's name in Spanish, is available on YouTube. It is based on Gentoo, a Linux variant introduced in 2002 and run by a foundation in New Mexico. It is a source-based distribution, meaning that the Gentoo operating system is downloaded and compiled on each individual computer. That can offer performance benefits for enthusiasts, though it may be complicated for less technical users. According to Distrowatch.com, a Web site devoted to Linux enthusiasts, Gentoo was the third most popular Linux version in 2002, behind Mandrake (now called Mandriva) and Red Hat. Last year, it ranked 18th among Distrowatch.com readers. Donnie Berkholz, a developer and head of public relations at Gentoo Foundation Inc., confirmed that Nova is based on Gentoo Linux, though he said the Cuban variant is being developed independently without the U.S.-based foundation's help. Ironically, Gentoo's creator, Daniel Robbins, went to work for Microsoft's Linux lab for eight months in 2005 after resigning from the Gentoo organization. Robbins later left, reportedly "frustrated" because he "wasn't able to work at my full level of technical ability."

Cuba chose Linux generally because it is free, its source code is accessible and it is less vulnerable to malware, Rodriguez said. "Private software can have black holes and malicious codes that one doesn't know about," Rodriguez told Reuters. "That doesn't happen with free software." Microsoft did not immediately return an e-mailed request for comment. Rodriguez also said that free software better suits Cuba's politics. Some government ministries and the Cuban university system have already switched to Linux. But some government-owned companies have grumbled about incompatibility with their own custom applications, Rodriguez said. Cuba is one of several countries, generally communist or developing nations, whose governments are backing the use of Linux or open-source software as an alternative to expensive proprietary software.

The Venezuelan government, for example, has been moving its ministries to dump Windows for Linux and open-source software, and is reportedly making and selling its own "Bolivarian Computers" running Linux to the general public. China has for several years had its own government-supported version of Linux called Red Flag that is supported by U.S. vendors, including Oracle Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. In 2007, Nigeria chose Mandriva Linux over Windows for 17,000 Intel Classmate PCs aimed at elementary school students.