Digital Agenda: 10 facts you should know about homeland security
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Campaign promises have changed little in the run-up to the presidential election, but the rhetoric has intensified.
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Department of Homeland Security implements data-mining system for passengers traveling to the U.S.
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In the name of homeland security, America's spy imagery agency is keeping a close eye, close to home. It's watching America. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, about 100 employees of a little-known branch of the Defense Department called the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency have focused on observing what's going on in the United States.
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Better communication systems, improved rail security and more rigorous oversight are high on the list of homeland security issues Democrats plan to examine when they assume control of Congress in January.
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(InfoWorld) - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, demanding the agency turn over information about an "invasive" data-mining system used to assess the terrorist threat posed by U.S. travelers. The EFF, an advocacy group focused on privacy and civil liberties, asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for the expedited release of records related to the DHS Automated Targeting System, or ATS, a program DHS unveiled in a November privacy notice in the Federal Register. The EFF filed Freedom of Information Act requests for information on the program on Nov. 7 and Dec. 6. ATS creates and assigns "risk assessments" to virtually all travelers as they enter and exit the U.S. by air or other means, according to the DHS filing. The DHS filing on the program raised objections from privacy advocates, who said ATS could violate federal privacy law and civil rights. ATS might also violate a federal law prohibiting DHS from developing algorithms assigning risks to passengers not on government watch lists, the EFF said. The program, as described, would track tens of millions of travelers, including U.S. citizens, the EFF said. "Individuals have no right to access information about themselves contained in the system, nor request correction of information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, untimely or incomplete," EFF lawyers David Sobel and Marcia Hofmann wrote in their complaint, filed Tuesday in the district court. The U.S. government will retain the risk assessment information for 40 years, according to DHS records. The information will be made available to "untold" numbers of federal, state, local and foreign agencies, the EFF said in a press release. "You don't know what information that assessment comes from," Hofmann said. "You don't know how that information will be used against you." The ATS program for cargo coming into the U.S. has been in place since the early 1990s, and its passenger screening capabilities since the mid-'90s, said DHS spokesman Jarrod Agen. DHS, which was created in March 2003, published the Federal Register notice about the program now after reviewing ATS and finding it had not yet been disclosed to the public, Agen said. The notice was "an effort to be transparent," Agen said. Agen declined to comment on the EFF lawsuit, but defended ATS. It's used to identify potential terrorists and terrorist weapons entering the U.S., he said. DHS is "expected to protect this country" from those threats, he added. "Without [ATS], we'd be virtually blind." The EFF wants to see DHS records that discuss possible redress for people who dispute the ATS assessments, records showing the number of arrests resulting from an ATS screening and records of complaints from people about the assessments. The EFF also wants to know if DHS has looked at the error rates in the government and private databases used in ATS, whether DHS has set up an oversight board to monitor the use of ATS and whether DHS has implemented security measures to protect the system against hackers. "DHS needs to provide answers, and provide them quickly, to the millions of law-abiding citizens who are worried about this 'risk assessment' score that will follow them throughout their lives," the EFF's Sobel said in a statement.
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WASHINGTON, DC â-he new director of Homeland Security will have to find the answer to a critical question: âWhatâs the best way to protect America?
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The U.S. Department of Homeland security will host a invite-only conference two months from now that will bring together security experts from law enforcement, Internet service providers, and the technology industry.
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The homeland security boom is funneling billions of dollars to antiterror tech makers, problems with accountability and coordination. A News.com special series.
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U.S. News & World Report - When it comes to terrorists' most valuable weapons, passports and visas probably rank higher than bullets and bombs. Without such documents, terrorists can't easily travel to train, conduct reconnaissance, or prepare for an attack. "They are the greatest tools that terrorists have in their arsenal," says Asa Hutchinson, under secretary for border and transportation security at the Department of Homeland Security. That fact became clear in the aftermath of 9/11, when it was discovered that all 19 of the hijackers had made it into the United States with doctored or suspicious  ...
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(InfoWorld) - SAN FRANCISCO -- U.S. companies and the federal government need to step up and fix the problems in their computer networks, the nation's new cybersecurity czar told attendees during his first-ever address atÂ RSA ConferenceÂ here on Thursday. Within the next 10 years, the majority of the world's communication needs will probably be handled by the Internet, said Gregory Garcia, the assistant secretary for cybersecurity and telecommunications at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "This proliferation of applications and devices within the converged network is going to create a breeding ground for security problems," he said. "Our networks and our systems are vulnerable and they are exposed." Garcia outlined two priorities for the year ahead. First, his office is working with federal agencies to adopt common security policies and practices. Second, he plans to work with the private sector to push forward a process called the National Infrastructure Protection Plan. This effort is intended to evaluate computer security risks on an industry-by-industry basis and outline the steps that need to be taken to address them. The broad strokes of this plan were outlined last June, and the DHS is now working with industry to flesh out sector-specific plans, Garcia said. He made it clear that the DHS expects U.S. companies to participate. "There are a lot of plans in Washington. This one is going to stick," he said. "The private sector owns and operates 90 percent of the critical infrastructure, and it's up to you all, not just the DHS, to secure this infrastructure." Companies looking for best practices already have a number of standards they can consider, Garcia said, pointing to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 17799 specification and the guidelines prescribed by Technet, an IT industry association. Computer security has not been a top priority at the DHS, which has paid far more attention to physical security threats to the nation since its inception in 2003. And though DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff tried to put a sharper focus on computer security by creating Garcia's high-level post in 2005, the position remained vacant for more than a year. Garcia was introduced Thursday by Art Coviello, president of EMC's RSA group, who said afterward that he was encouraged by the assistant secretary's speech. "It's a combination of carrot and stick," he said in an interview. "Chiding industry to actually comply with these standards that are out there, and a veiled threat of regulation to get things done." Coviello said that cybersecurity has "languished a bit" within DHS ever since U.S. President George W. Bush signed off on his administration's comprehensive cybersecurity plan in 2003. "The Department and Secretary [Tom] Ridge and Secretary Chertoff obviously focused on the right things -- physical threats -- but now it's time to get after the critical infrastructure from the cyber side," Coviello said in the interview. "I don't think industry is looking for a lot of regulation from government," he added. "What they are looking for is leadership."
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Homeland Security's Automated Targeting System tracks all international travelers and ranks their risks, secretly storing the results for four decades. And it's been going on for years. In 27B Stroke 6.
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This article provides an overview of ITIL, a management-level set of best practices and guidelines for an integrated and process-based approach to IT and security.
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InfoWorld - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will host a invite-only conference two months from now that will bring together security experts from law enforcement, Internet service providers, and the technology industry.
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A new Homeland Security program aims to analyze existing, legally collected computer data, not gather new personal information on U.S. citizens, Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday in defending the program from congressional critics.
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TechWeb - A project sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security spotlights defects in popular applications such as Linux and Apache. But there's also good news.
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You can empty your pockets of change, take off your belt and shoes and stick your keys in the little tray. But if you've had radiation therapy recently, you still might set off Homeland Security alarms.
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The failure to appoint an assistant secretary for cybersecurity and incomplete planning are raising questions about how well prepared the Department of Homeland Security is for a cyberattack directed against the nation's critical infrastructure.