Making Homeland Security network hacker-proof poses challenge

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.tribnet.com/24hour/technology/story/921846p-6419204c.html

By STEVEN K. PAULSON
Associated Press 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 19, 8:33 a.m. PDT) - It's a task that
would challenge even the sharpest of computer geeks: set up a
hacker-proof computer network for 190,000 government workers across
the country fighting terrorism.

That's the challenge facing computer experts building a new system for
the Homeland Security Department while keeping the existing network
operational and secure.

Technology will be a key to the success of the new system, which is
expected to take years to complete, said Edward Kinney, director of
information technology for Customs & Border Protection.

Kinney spoke Wednesday at a conference that put government and private
computer company representatives together to discuss security. He
declined to provide specifics about the network.

The Homeland Security Department became operational in February in the
largest government reorganization since 1947. It merged 22 agencies
scattered across the nation and in some foreign countries.

The new department is charged with patrolling borders, analyzing U.S.  
intelligence, responding to emergencies and guarding against
terrorism, among other tasks.

Computer experts have had to figure out ways for employees to share
critical information while protecting that information from prying
eyes that could compromise national security and trade secrets, Kinney
said.

"Now we can communicate securely and we can share information and
documents with confidence," he said.

But watchdog groups remain worried.

The government needs to make sure information is protected because the
new network creates serious privacy issues by allowing "virtual
dossiers" to be compiled on employees, said Wayne Madsen, a senior
fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

"Until they have a mechanism to make sure there are no abuses, they
should go slow putting this information into a database," he said.

Department officials routinely test the networks to make sure they are
hacker-proof, Kinney said.

They also are focusing on government employees stationed overseas,
such as U.S. Customs workers who must inspect cargo headed for the
United States.

"If we cannot bring goods and services across our borders, our
economic security will be significantly impaired," Kinney said.

Officials said it also has been a challenge to change the computer
culture among government workers. For example, after the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks, computer managers had to tell federal workers to stop
e-mailing pictures of waving flags from unauthorized sites to their
colleagues.

"It was a bad habit people got into, downloading from unauthorized
sites," Kinney said.



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