*Homeland Security is right on the job! Except, well, not exactly.
Not at all, actually.
–GAO Report: DHS Not Doing Enough to Protect Critical Infrastructure
(26 May 2005)
According to a recently released report from the GAO, the Department of Homeland Security is not taking adequate measures to protect the nation's critical information infrastructure. None of the department's 13 key cyber security responsibilities has been completely addressed. (((What? Not even one?)))
Among the issues cited were the absence of national cyber threat and vulnerability assessments and of government and private sector cyber security contingency recovery plans. (((Since they can't even manage "assessments" and "plans," imagine the mayhem if they actually tried to accomplish something.)))
http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2005/0,4814,102049,00.html
http://news.com.com/2102-7348_3-5722227.html?tag=st.util.print
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05434.pdf
Declan McCullough always knows what he's talking about
Homeland Security flunks cybersecurity prep test
By Declan McCullagh
http://news.com.com/Homeland+Security+flunks+cybersecurity+prep+test/2100-7348_3-5722227.html
Story last modified Thu May 26 17:10:00 PDT 2005
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has failed to live up to its cybersecurity responsibilities and may be "unprepared" for emergencies, federal auditors said in a scathing report released Thursday.
More than two years after its creation, Homeland Security has never developed a contingency plan to restore Internet functions in an emergency and has yet to create a vulnerability assessment of what could happen in an worst-case scenario, the Government Accountability Office concluded.
"DHS cannot effectively function as the cybersecurity focal point intended by law and national policy" at the moment, the report (Click for PDF) said. "There is increased risk that large portions of our national infrastructure are either unaware of key areas of cybersecurity risks or unprepared to effectively address cyber emergencies."
The dismal grade for Homeland Security comes as the federal government is conducting a war game called "Silent Harbor" that's designed to model what might happen during an electronic attack on the United States. It was convened by the CIA's secretive Information Operations Center and was set to conclude Thursday.
(((This 'Silent Harbor' thing was apparently so secret that it had
two names – Silent Harbor and Silent Horizon. Maybe it had
one name for the neocon implants at the CIA, and another
for the dwindling few who still retain actual intelligence.)))
–CIA Conducted Cyber Attack Exercise
(26 May 2005)
The Central Intelligence Agency conducted a three-day cyber attack
simulation aimed at testing government and private sector response to escalating Internet attacks. The scenario for the unclassified
exercise, which has been dubbed "Silent Horizon," was a cyber assault of unprecedented magnitude.
http://www.securitypipeline.com/163701322
http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2005/0,4814,102065,00.html
*Okay, I was kidding about the neocons – "Silent Horizon"
was just 75 guys sitting around in a hotel somewhere
running futurist scenarios and shooting the breeze.
I wish I'd been there!
*Think we'll get a real cyberczar with some clout
now? Naaah.
http://www.securitypipeline.com/163105933;jsessionid=JZBIOYH43S4XUQSNDBCCKHSCJUMEKJVN
