Pentagon computers broken into hundreds of times WASHINGTON (October 23, 1997 11:22 p.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) - More than 250 U.S. Defense Department computer systems were broken into last year and the number of attempted break-ins will likely double this year, a senior U.S. intelligence official has disclosed. [snip...] "Last year, over 250 unclassified DOD (Department of Defense) computer systems were known to have been penetrated," the talking points said. "Number of attacks escalating; will double this year." [snip...] In May 1996, the General Accounting Office, the audit arm of Congress, cited Pentagon estimates that the number of unauthorized efforts to enter its computer systems may have reached 250,000 in 1995. [snip...] Minihan said the United States was more dependent on computer networks than any other country, with what he said was 42 percent of the world's "computing power" and 60 percent of the "resources" of the Internet, the worldwide network of networks. [snip...] Minihan said the United States was woven together by 1.3 million "local area" computer networks, a number that he projected would jump to more than two million by 2000. [snip...] By JIM WOLF, Reuters