US cyber chief talks tough on security
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Quick and determined action RSA The US's latest chief of cyber security has pledged quick and determined action to protect the nation's critical infrastructure from attack.â¦
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A cybersecurity group yesterday called on US President George Bush to invest more in IT issues and to make the top IT security job a bigger posting.
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A top homeland security lawmaker has called for an investigation into possible cyber attacks on computer systems at the Homeland Security Department.
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House Homeland Security Committee chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), says hacks, virus outbreaks and other computer security problems undermine the government's efforts to encourage companies and private organizations to improve cyber security.
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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.
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US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urges caution on US intelligence reform, saying it could create new barriers.
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Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urged the US Congress on Tuesday to proceed with great caution on a proposed overhaul of US intelligence and avoid putting barriers between military commanders and the agencies that ...
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Security managers at this week's Computer Security Institute conference said they spend too much time dealing with software flaws and virus threats to develop more strategic approaches to safeguarding corporate information.
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(InfoWorld) - Fixing cybersecurity problems in the U.S. is a top priority at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said the agency's leader, but lawmakers didn't focus on the issue during a hearing in Congress Wednesday. Cybersecurity is a "very big issue" that DHS remains concerned about, said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, testifying before the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee. Chertoff didn't go into details because much of the department's cybersecurity efforts are classified, he said. "I can assure you that we are working with other elements of the federal government and giving highest priority an enhanced strategy with respect to cybersecurity," he said. Cybersecurity threats have "enormous potential to do damage to the United States in years to come," Chertoff added. Chertoff testified before the committee in a hearing titled, "Holding the Department of Homeland Security Accountable for Security Gaps." But while cybersecurity problems continue inside and outside of the U.S. government, lawmakers focused on other issues during the hearing, including the hiring of border agents, training of bomb-sniffer dogs, and the scanning of airline cargo. Just this week, the U.S. Department of Defense acknowledged a successful attack on an unclassified e-mail system earlier this year. While not focusing on cybersecurity, committee chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said DHS needs to improve in several areas. Thompson has criticized the department's cybersecurity efforts in the past, but cybersecurity issues were not on Thompson's list of top priorities for Chertoff in the remaining 16 months of U.S. President George Bush's administration. Instead, Thompson called on Chertoff to fill vacancies at DHS, to finish regulations for container security at ports, and to implement a biometric air passenger screening program. "We owe the American people security," Thompson said. "We owe them accountability. And most importantly, we owe them freedom from fear." Other than the short Chertoff statement on cybersecurity, the issue did not come up again in more than 90 minutes of questions from lawmakers. Representative Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican, used part of his question time to complain to Chertoff that many bomb-sniffing dogs used by DHS came from overseas. Rogers urged Chertoff to find ways to breed bomb-sniffing and cadaver dogs in the U.S. "I'm concerned that we are increasingly relying on foreign imported dogs," he said.
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(InfoWorld) - As director of research at the SANS Institute, Alan Paller has a unique window from which to view the U.S. governmentâs efforts to secure its vast computer networks. An original member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, Paller has had the ear of high-level White House officials.Â  Paller has also been a reliable critic of the governmentâs cybersecurity plans, which he says are ineffective and mired in bureaucracy. Last week, Paller was at it again, joining Eric Byres, Director of Industrial Cyber Security at Symantec to talk about cyberattacks on SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems that manage the nationâs critical infrastructure. Ahead of that event, Paller told InfoWorld Senior Editor Paul Roberts that SCADA hacks have already happened and that on the five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. gets an âFâÂ  for protecting its computers from hackers, terrorist or otherwise. InfoWorld: Weâve been hearing about the threat of terrorist cyberattacks for years. Is the threat for real? Alan Paller: It is a real threat, but itâs an interesting threat. What you have happening today is that terrorists are using cybercrime to get the money to buy the bombs to blow people up. But theyâre not using cyberattacks against physical things. There have been two cases that are very secret where SCADA systems that run power plants were taken over, but the crime was about extortion -- you know, âIf you donât pay us weâre going to do something bad.âÂ  In some cases the guys have proven that they can do damage by running a test denial of service attack, or a test outage. IW: Conventional wisdom was that SCADA systems are too old and idiosyncratic to be easy targets. What has changed? AP: The difference is that companies have added Windows systems to replace unknown operating systems, and then connected them to their networks, which are connected to the Internet. GAO did a great report on this back in 2004. Most of the attacks we hear about arenât aimed at SCADA systems, theyâre aimed at corporate networks, but once youâre on the network you can get into these (SCADA) systems. IW: Why should enterprise IT people care about the security of SCADA systems? AP: The big shock to us was all the places where control systems are used. NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology] did a study that found SCADA systems were common in the electric, water, oil and gas, chemical, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper, food and beverage, discrete manufacturing, durable goods, air and rail transportation, mining and metallurgy industries. So tell me whatâs not covered there. Almost anyone who works in a major industry has this stuff on their plate.Â  IW: Is there any evidence that foreign governments are privy to information on how to attack SCADA systems in the U.S.? AP: Well, you have the statement Gen. Lord gave that the military has lost terabytes of sensitive information to the Chinese government. [Editorâs Note: Maj. Gen. William Lord told GCN in August that âChina has downloaded 10 to 20TB of data from NIPRNet, the DoDâs Non-Classified IP Router Network.â] That was the first public âoopsâ that weâve heard. It was an admission at the highest level that weâve spent all this money and systematically the Chinese have been able to come in and steal this information. IW: Recently, an article in Foreign Affairs criticized the U.S. government for playing defense on cybersecurity and missing the way terrorists are using the Internet to organize and raise money. Is that fair? AP: Youâre giving [the government] too much credit for having an active defense. They donât have an active defense. What they have is a lot of reports that have been written. Just one consulting firm increased their staff writing (cybersecurity) reports from four people to 200 in the last five years. As one chief of staff told me, the best thing to do with those reports is to pile them in front of our buildings so the terrorists canât use a car bomb to get us. IW: If you had to give the U.S. government a grade on cybersecurity, what would it be? AP: It would have to be an F. I mean, if you canât secure the boxes that you have, that would have to be an F.
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With Amit Yoran&#39;s sudden departure from the nation&#39;s top cybersecurity job, industry officials said they fear another setback in efforts to make government and corporate networks secure from attacks that hurt business and national security.
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The technology industry stands behind its call for an assistant secretary for cybersecurity in the Homeland Security Department, even as confusion grows over what the department is planning.
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While similar rules apply to Web security, the differences are crucial and the stakes are high, says Microsoft senior security director.Photos: Leading Microsoft's security crew
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A group representing the cybersecurity industry has called for the White House to show &quot;greater leadership&quot; in guarding the nation&#39;s computer infrastructure from attacks by hackers and viruses
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By 1:57 PM EDT Fri. Oct. 08, 2004. The Department of Homeland Security Thursday appointed an acting US cybersecurity chief to replace Amit Yoran, who resigned suddenly from the position a week ago.
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After 14-month delay The US government has appointed a cybersecurity chief after a 14-month gap that left observers questioning the Government's commitment to the post.â¦
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Q&A: Karen Evans, the U.S. government's de facto CIO, says that she wants federal agencies to stay on the leading edge of technology -- but not necessarily the cutting edge.