Chertoff Praises Bush Cyber-security Efforts

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: eweek

Outgoing Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff says the Bush administration's work on cyber-security leaves President-elect Barack Obama well-positioned for progress on securing the nation's IT infrastructure.


Almost a year after launching a cyber-security "Manhattan Project" and less than a month before President-elect Barack Obama takes office, outgoing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says the Bush administration is leaving Obama with "some momentum" on cyber-security.

Speaking Dec. 18 at the conclusion of a two-day cyber-warfare exercise in Washington, Chertoff said, "I think we've done an awful lot in a relatively short period of time, as, you know, government work goes and while there's much more to be done, I think we've teed up, so the next administration has some momentum and I will encourage them in any way I can to continue to move it forward."

In January, Bush signed a classified presidential order ordering the DHS and the National Security Agency to expand their cyber-security efforts. Chertoff said that initiative has been successful, at least as a starting point.



Read more: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Chertoff-Praises-Bush-Cyber-Security-Efforts/

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. First,

delete all e-mails to and from the white house.
Second, remove a modern back-up and archiving system and replace it with a POS.
Third, claim that you can't find any e-mails.

BINGO! your e-mails are now cyber-secure!

[Tempest]

2. U.S. Cybersecurity Is Weak, GAO Says

The Government Accountability Office says the team responsible for protecting private- and public-sector computers isn't up to snuff

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2008/tc20080915_347282.htm

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, known as US-CERT, mans the front line in any cyber-attack. The group monitors computer networks for hacker threats, investigates suspicious activity online, and is supposed to issue timely alerts to information technology security professionals from the White House to corporations and electric utilities. But the GAO draft report describes US-CERT as bedeviled by frequent management turnover, bureaucratic challenges that prevent timely sounding of alarms, a lack of access to networks across wide swaths of critical terrain, and an inability to fill large numbers of positions with qualified workers.

Five years after the Homeland Security Dept. took charge of the team as a critical safeguard against threats to national security, US-CERT "still does not exhibit aspects of the attributes essential to having a truly national capability," according to the draft report.

[Turbineguy]

3. Bush appointee praises Bush.

So this system must really work.

[No Elephants]

7. Bush Homeland Security appointee praises himself in the guise of praising Bush.

[Javaman]

4. Officials: U.S. not ready for cyber attack

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28312755/

WASHINGTON - The United States is unprepared for a major hostile attack against vital computer networks, government and industry officials said on Thursday after participating in a two-day "cyberwar" simulation.

The game involved 230 representatives of government defense and security agencies, private companies and civil groups. It revealed flaws in leadership, planning, communications and other issues, participants said.

The exercise comes almost a year after President George W. Bush launched a cybersecurity initiative which officials said has helped shore up U.S. computer defenses but still falls short.

"There isn't a response or a game plan," said senior vice president Mark Gerencser of the Booz Allen Hamilton consulting service, which ran the simulation. "There isn't really anybody in charge," he told reporters afterward.

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chertoff is a stooge.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. Did he mention Michael Connell?

[Shardik]

6. Chertoff would praise Bush if Dimson shat his pants. n/t

[No Elephants]

8. Yet another Bush appointee working on the Bush legacy project. Everything's

wonderful now folks. Everything's fixed and ready for Obama. This means, if something goes wrong after Inauguration, it's Obama's fault, not Dummya's. And if anything goes right after Inauguration, it's to Dummya's credit, not Obama's.

Heads, Dummya wins; tails, Obama loses.