[ISN] GOVNET Wont Solve U.S. Government Internet Security Concerns

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Wed Oct 17 2001 - 01:13:12 PDT

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    http://www3.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=101741
    
    16 October 2001 
    John Pescatore   
    Jay Pultz 
       
    Instead of developing a new, separate U.S. government network to
    replace part of the Internet, federal officials should focus on
    improving performance, security and survivability.
     
    Event
    
    On 11 October 2001, Richard Clarke, the newly appointed adviser to
    U.S. President George W. Bush for "Cyberspace Security," promoted the
    concept of a separate government Internet to enable more secure
    communications among agencies and federal workers. The new GOVNET
    network would be distinct from the public Internet to keep it safe
    from viruses, hackers and terrorists. Clarke's office issued a request
    for information for vendors to respond to the initiative.
    
    First Take
    
    At first glance, a government-only Internet appears to make sense. It
    has meritorious goals high performance, a high level of security and
    survivability. However, the federal government already uses several
    networks for military and nonmilitary communications. Therefore, the
    General Services Administration, charged with procuring services for
    the federal government, should carefully examine whether GOVNET would
    be redundant to existing networks and, thus, become a costly waste of
    time and resources.
    
    Presidential Decision Directive 63 promises that the U.S. government
    would become a model security citizen on the Internet. Moving to a
    physically separate GOVNET would require the government to unhook from
    the Internet without ever trying to live up to the directive's goals.
    Gartner believes that rather than retreat from secure use of the
    public Internet, the government should focus on the required security
    technologies, processes and purchasing discipline to ensure that the
    government conducts all its uses of the Internet securely and
    reliably, and uses its buying power to have security services built
    into offerings for the provision of Internet service. Where the
    Internet fails to meet its needs, the government should look to
    enhance rather than replace its private networks. Lastly, the
    government should consider piloting an ARPANET-like initiative on
    next-generation security and survivability technologies that might
    identify enhanced security benefits for both government and commercial
    networks. (ARPANET, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, was
    the forerunner of the Internet.)
    
    If GOVNET gets funded, defense contractors, network providers and
    security vendors should view it as a short-term opportunity to sell
    products and services to a private network. Enterprises and government
    agencies should assume that a long-term solution to Internet security
    will arise elsewhere and should proceed to buy denial-of-service
    protection and other managed security services from commercial
    providers.
    
    Analytical Source: John Pescatore, Information Security Strategies,
    and Jay Pultz, Enterprise Network Strategies
    
    Written by Michael Gomez, gartner.com
    
    
    
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