Pentagon Spent Millions to Counter Insider Threats After WikiLeaks Fiasco

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2013/07/defense-spent-millions-counter-insider-threats-after-wikileaks-fiasco/65843/

By Aliya Sternstein
Nextgov.com
July 1, 2013

Since 2010, when Pfc. Bradley Manning allegedly downloaded classified 
files from military networks and leaked them to the anti-secrecy website 
WikiLeaks, the Pentagon has paid millions of dollars for technology 
designed to protect networks against insiders intent on leaking sensitive 
data -- the kind of activities former National Security Agency contractor 
Edward Snowden claims to have done in releasing classified files on the 
agency's spying operations.

NSA, which is part of the Defense Department, doesn't appear to have 
enabled those protections, despite earlier Pentagon assertions the 
technology was rolled out departmentwide.

The Host-Based Security System, launched in 2010, prevents the use of 
removable storage devices such as CDs and thumb drives on Defense 
Department networks. An NSA information technology official, who left the 
agency in the summer of 2012, said that at that time, HBSS was not 
installed.

Between 2010 and early 2013, the military had spent at least $12 million 
on core implementation contracts, according to budget analysts. Going 
forward, the Defense Information Systems Agency, which provides IT support 
throughout the department, is expected to pay about $1.3 million annually 
for software licenses, said Ray Bjorklund, founder of BirchGrove 
Consulting.

[...]



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