December 29, 1999
Web posted at: 9:14 p.m. EST (0214 GMT)

From National Security Producer Chris Plante

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military has advised hundreds of its Web site managers to shut down publicly accessible Web sites during the Y2K weekend in a bid to thwart hackers.

Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps officials tell CNN that the decision on whether to shut down a site is being left to individual site managers.

Guidance sent out by the Navy says that, "if practical and (if it) would not cause an inconvenience," that the systems should be temporarily shut down.

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The Army has yet to follow the lead of the other services in issuing such a recommendation, but one Army official said, "We're thinking about it."

The Air Force has about 900 publicly accessible Web sites and the Navy has about 400. The Marine Corps and Army could not immediately say how many Web sites they had.

Pentagon computer systems have been a favorite target for computer hackers in the United States and around the world and attempted infiltrations number in the hundreds per week, according to Defense Department computer experts.

One Air Force official explained there was some concern that the systems might be more vulnerable over the holiday weekend, and added, "If they don't have a target to shoot at, they can't shoot at it."

All Pentagon computer systems dealing with classified material will remain up and running over the weekend.

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