[iwar] [fc:Cybersecurity.called.key.to.homeland.defense]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-01 06:37:59


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Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2001 06:37:59 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Cybersecurity.called.key.to.homeland.defense]
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Cybersecurity called key to homeland defense

By Diane Frank, Federal Computer Week, 10/1/2001
<a href="http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1001/news-cyber-10-01-01.asp">http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1001/news-cyber-10-01-01.asp>

As the Office of Homeland Security takes shape, federal and
private-sector technology experts are urging the Bush administration to
ensure that cybersecurity is included. 

President Bush created the office last month in response to the Sept. 
11 terrorist attacks and named Pennsylvania Gov.  Tom Ridge as its head. 
The Cabinet-level office will coordinate, not replace, the many federal,
state and local agencies involved in protecting the nation against
terrorist attacks, officials said. 

"The key here, when it comes to homeland defense, is to have one very
effective person at the pinnacle of it who can help co.ordinate it,"
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said last month. 

The administration is still determining the office's exact structure,
including staffing and funding, Fleischer said.  Several bills are
moving through Congress to better define the office. 

But while much of the reaction to the terrorist attacks has focused on
physical security, such as airport and building security, information
technology and cybersecurity also must be included, experts said. 

"It is likely that a separate strategy will be needed to ensure that
critical computer systems are also protected," Joel Willemssen, managing
director of IT issues at the General Accounting Office, testified at a
hearing last month.  "However, it will be essential to link the
government's strategy for combating computer-based attacks to the
national strategy for combating terrorism." White House officials have
been reviewing the national plan for protecting the country's critical
infrastructures, including the telecommunications sector, since January. 
Now, officials are discussing how that strategy will relate to the
Office of Homeland Security, Willemssen said. 

The government's lead agency for responding to cyberattacks, the
National Infrastructure Protection Center, is helping the investigation. 
The NIPC also offers vital support to the new office because it
coordinates protection and response across different entities, NIPC
Director Ronald Dick said. 

The coordination between physical and cyber protection is essential as
agencies consider what could have happened if the "Nimda" worm, which
spread rapidly to affect the Internet, had hit Sept.  11 instead of a
week later, experts said. 

Intelligence and information sharing among agencies, as well as quick
dissemination of information via the Internet, will be crucial to the
office's success, said Mark DeMier, deputy director for operations at
the Anser Institute for Homeland Security. 

"It's going to be essential [because] after the attacks, the Internet
was the most reliable way to communicate," he said. 

Both high- and low-grade technology will play important roles in helping
the new security office do its job, DeMier noted.  Everything from
facial recognition to air-purification masks should be used, he said. 

The Homeland Security Office's effectiveness will depend on Congress'
willingness to give agencies adequate resources for any new
responsibilities to support the office, said Michael Vatis, director of
the Dartmouth College Institute of Security Technology Studies and
former NIPC director.  One reason why critical information systems lack
adequate security is that many agencies are required to secure the
systems without being given the funds to do so, he said.  Dan
Caterinicchia contributed to this article. 

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