Defense Tech: More Gov Agencies to Defend Cyberspace


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Edited by Christian Lowe \| Contact

More Gov Agencies to Defend Cyberspace

We've sort of debated this a bit over the last few months, but I thought I'd forward you all a breaking news item that indicates the formation of a joint cyberdefense initiative for the U.S.

From today's Washington Post:

New Interagency Group to Oversee Cyberattack Defense -- By Brian Krebs

The Bush administration is planning to tap a Silicon Valley entrepreneur to head a new interagency group that will coordinate the government's efforts to protect its computer networks from organized cyberattacks.

Sources in the government contracting community said the White House is expected to announce as early as today the selection of Rod A. Beckstrom as a top-level adviser to be based in the Department of Homeland Security. Beckstrom is an author and entrepreneur best known for starting Twiki.net, a company that provides collaboration software for businesses.

The new interagency group, which will coordinate information sharing about cyberattacks aimed at government networks, is being created as part of a government-wide "cyber initiative" spelled out in a national security directive that President Bush signed in January, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to discuss the information.

The presidential directive expanded the intelligence community's role in monitoring Internet traffic to protect against a rising number of attacks on federal agencies' computer systems. According to the sources, the new group will gather information about cyberattacks and vulnerabilities from a wide range of federal agencies, including the FBI, the National Security Agency and the Defense Department. Beckstrom will report directly to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

-- Christian

Comments

nice to meet you

Posted by: wowpowerleveling at April 15, 2008 02:57 AM

"Orwell rolls in his grave"...

Posted by: dickIn at March 25, 2008 04:02 AM

I wish Steve Gibson of GRC was part of this cyber space defense team. He was one of the elite who fought the historical battle against DRDoS attack.

Posted by: pedestrian at March 21, 2008 10:58 PM

What, like it matters if this latest box in the big garrison state org chart actually does anything about "security"?!?!

Like pretty much everything else in the "national security" carnival, the real purpose of the position is to siphon those sweet, creamy federal dollars into the accounts of the usual well-connected contractors. I'm sure the new office will be very effective at this crucial task.

Now, cue the usual gang of techno-fantasists with dire warnings about evil Chinamen or laptop-equipped Pashtun tribesmen or whatever the hell today's bogeyman is....

Posted by: sglover at March 20, 2008 07:15 PM

Makes sense.
BIG job.
BROAD responsibilities.
MANY vested interests.
Somebody has to coordinate and corollate all the diverse efforts. Yes that means bureaucrats and bureaucracy, which when you thnk about it, are only derogatory terms for Managment and Organizations. Will things get missed, overlooked, or unattended? Only if humans are involved (LOL). What do any of the other options look like?

Posted by: SMSgt Mac at March 20, 2008 11:15 AM

Just what we need. Another layer of bureaucracy and another "Czar". What we need to do is figure out which Agency is best qualified to handle digital based threats and assign them the role and appropriate funding. Seems that the NSA is the probably the most technically qualified for dealing with external threats and can provide guidance to the FBI for dealing with internal security threats.

Posted by: Bob at March 20, 2008 10:40 AM

What are the odds this will go the way so many previous cyber-security czar positions?

Every time a new chief is selected they step down because the government/administration won't let them run it like a private company that gets stuff done.

Will the administration finally take the recommendations of a cyber-security czar seriously?

Posted by: Chris at March 20, 2008 08:57 AM

More Gov Agencies to Defend Cyberspace

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