I have a collection of articles I wanted to comment on, but I noticed they all have one thing in common: they point to the utter incompetence of the government when it comes to security, technology, and secrecy. It's sometimes hard for me to imagine how stupidity spreads this much, but then I remember that our elected officials brazenly showboat their ignorance every day in front of the cameras. If that's how they behave when they know everyone is watching, imagine what goes on when they are away from the cameras.
At the top of the list is this: FBI, Secret Service must improve cybercrime training. Unlike the presentation in movies like Transformers or Live Free or Die Hard, the government is not on the cutting edge of computer technology. The FBI has haphazardly been playing catch-up with criminal organizations and the CIA spends more time leaking stories to the New York Times and training its agents to go private after a brief commitment than collecting useful intelligence. Other agencies are too bureaucratic to be nimble. The Government Accountability Office cites personnel, policy, funding, competition with the private sector, jurisdiction, and training as the major hurdles for the agencies. These are legitimate problems that should be solved. However, like any report critical of government agencies, little will be done. The government's track record is proof enough that this report may surface in Congress and they will figure out a way to funnel money to the ailing agencies. However, nothing will change as more policies will be passed and they will be watched even more closely. History has shown that money alone will solve nothing. Like public education, law enforcement will have more money to waste while trying to comply with more oversight and less empowerment.
In the meantime, because of the previously mentioned problems, we will probably see more stories like this: Military Medical Breach Revealed. The bottom line of this story is that SAIC, a government contractor, had some employees send unencrypted medical data for military members and their families over the Internet in the open. While this is not only a HIPAA violation, it could also be considered a national security problem. The problem here is not the fact the government uses private contractors, as some would suggest. It is in that the government, the same one who used the best and brightest to create the Internet, is not working on new and better ways to manage information. Instead of developing ways to break up information so that nothing private is in the hands of a single individual, the government continues to lag behind and blindly use popular technologies. There was a time when information was so important to the government, contractors had to develop new and innovative ways to comply with strict guidelines for information security. These days, it seems it's easier for agencies to just accept whatever vendors propose.
Finally, this story says it all when it comes to the kinds of people we put in office: P2P Networks Turn Up Sensitive Corporate, Government Documents. The gist of it is that the House Oversight and Government Reform committee is trying to blame the computer industry and, specifically, file sharing companies for breaches in secure information. This is to laugh.
The primary outcome of the hearing is that committee members are starting to better understand the security risks that arise when government and business workers engage in file sharing from computers that contain sensitive information. "Today's hearing was one of saying, look, this problem has been around for a few years and it's getting worse," Johnson said. "There are a lot of government and corporate documents leaking out, and we need to do something."
Committee members know this first hand. Using the LimeWire P2P program, committee staffers ran a series of basic searches prior to Tuesday's hearing. "What we found was astonishing: personal bank records and tax forms, attorney-client communications, the corporate strategies of Fortune 500 companies, confidential corporate accounting documents, internal documents from political campaigns, government emergency response plans, and even military operation orders," committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Ca., said to open the hearing. "All these files were found in unpublished, Microsoft Word document format. All were found in limited searches over the past month. It is truly chilling to think of what private information an organized operation or a foreign government could acquire with additional resources."
I will avoid quoting the other articles about this same story where the representatives show how out of touch they really are. I'm sure you can imagine the grandstanding about things they don't understand. Even the utterly incompetent liar, General Wesley Clark, testified as for Tiversa. I'm assuming he was only hired because of his name, knowing full well he will say whatever he's told to say at any given moment.
Again, there was a time when the government had much better control over sensitive information. There is technology out there to lock down computers and prevent people from installing LimeWire or Morpheus on government computers. If the employee is working with sensitive information, then why the hell is the person allowed to telecommute with personal computers? When I had clearance, you couldn't take sensitive information out of the building. What happened since then? Just because it's digital doesn't mean the rule doesn't apply. 20 years ago, nobody had to telecommute when they worked with classified information. The only thing that's changed (beside the technology) is employees whining and wanting to work from home apparently.
As usual, the government is showing why we need to pay attention to whom we elect and as it grows, it grows out of control. I want sensitive information secured and I want law enforcement and defensive organizations to have the best technology and skills. But we have idiot politicians that love to grandstand for the media with little understanding what damage they do when they do nothing but criticize and over-regulate.
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Of Course by Jane's Addiction