The persistent theft of components from one of Britain鈥檚 largest academic super- computers is taking a sinister turn. A scientist is warning that thieves might be selling the computer鈥檚 brainpower to Iraq or al-Qaida for clandestine weapons research.
鈥淭hese computers are perfect for weapons research,鈥� says Carlos Frenk, director of Durham University鈥檚 Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC). 鈥淭here鈥檚 clearly something going on here that should be of great concern to political authorities.鈥�
The computer in question is the ICC鈥檚 拢1.5 million Cosmology Machine, which began work in July 2001. It was designed to simulate how the Universe evolved as galaxies formed and clustered together, and could perform a mammoth 456 billion calculations every second.
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On 18 December last year, thieves broke into the ICC and ruined four of the computer鈥檚 12 hefty circuit boards while trying to prise them out with a screwdriver. Initially, Frenk thought that the thieves were clueless opportunists who hoped the boards might have resale value, not realising that their botched attempt would make their haul useless anyway.
But when the thieves returned, suspicions grew that the boards were being stolen to order for a particular client. On 22 December, they escaped with four boards after being chased by a security guard. A third attempted burglary in January this year failed.
鈥淰ery sinister鈥�
The ICC replaced some boards and upgraded security measures. But about eight robbers broke in again on 3 February, this time bagging all the circuit boards, including previously damaged ones that were awaiting repair. When challenged, they threatened to shoot a security guard.
Frenk says the pattern gives cause for concern. The repeated break-ins suggest the thieves are willing to risk long prison sentences and that they have already been able to sell the boards on. No legitimate organisation would buy such unique and identifiable stolen goods.
The thieves are also taking boards that they know to be damaged. So their client must have enough electronics and engineering expertise to repair them and construct the complex supporting frames needed to operate them. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 one reason I started to think there鈥檚 something very sinister about this,鈥� says Frenk.
He concludes that the hardware might be sold to terrorist organisations, or states such as Iraq that covet nuclear technology, for weapons research. Supercomputers are used to simulate the ignition and evolution of nuclear reactions. 鈥淚f you want to simulate a nuclear explosion, this is exactly the sort of computer you would use,鈥� Frenk says.
Soft targets
鈥淭oday you cannot have a vigorous weapons programme鈥揵iological, nuclear or chemical鈥搘ithout lots of computing power,鈥� says Frenk. He adds that computer thieves probably view universities as a soft target because they don鈥檛 have the fortress-like security of military labs.
But Daryl Landeg of Britain鈥檚 Atomic Weapons Establishment in Aldermaston says weapons developers probably wouldn鈥檛 go to all this trouble.
鈥淭here are easier things they can do,鈥� he says. Although some of the most complex studies of weapons design require specialised machines, much of the work could be done with off-the-shelf computers. 鈥淵ou can buy a bunch of PCs, link them together with decent networking, then use open-source software to run them as a parallel computer,鈥� says Landeg.
But Frenk says that even if there鈥檚 a small chance his hunch is correct, there is cause for concern.