Comments on: Another Government Computer Security Breech – FBI

By: kent

kent — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 16:24:57 +0000

That's "breach."

Unless there is a loaded meaning I'm missing. ;)

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 15:28:42 +0000

S.M. Stirling has an interesting alternate history time line series of books that bears on this. It assumes southern diehards go to South Africa after the 'late unpleasantness', start up and empire and by the time of WWII are a major force that leaves them and the US in a permanent cold war. In the series, he postulates the development of computer technology where the ability to prevent hacking was considered the prime requirement for computers. All programs the computer would use were installed in the factory on a ROM (that is read only memory, so no chance to ever change or upgrade). Obviously that slows computer development. But the hacking would then be shifted to trying to get "back doors" into the factory ROM. Once you had one, the security procedures that prevented hacking would also mean that every machine had to be scrapped since there was no way to put in a workaround or update the ROM. Testing out systems and finding vulnerabilities like this are what you are supposed to do before going operational. It shouldn't be done on the instigation by a lone local agent, but that probably speaks more about bureaucratic inability to explore potential problems at the central office than anything else.

By: Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator

Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 14:50:42 +0000

Hacker Invades FBI Computers...

A U.S. government consultant used software programs found on the Internet to invade the Bureau's com...

By: The Heretik

The Heretik — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 14:05:37 +0000

FBI Caught with Pants Down...

Who will save us from the people who would save us?
A government consultant, using computer programs easily found on the Internet, managed to crack the FBI’s classified computer system and gain the passwords of 38,000 employees, including that o...

By: DC Loser

DC Loser — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 11:19:10 +0000

The insider threat is always the greatest threat to sensitive computer systems.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 06:22:53 +0000

At least the guy's a contractor.

I heard a VA official being interviewed the other day and he said the person who took the laptop home with all of the veteran's data couldn't be fired at this point because of civil service rules.