[ISN] Homeland Security Office Asks for Tech Help

From: InfoSec News (isnat_private)
Date: Thu May 01 2003 - 01:00:52 PDT

  • Next message: InfoSec News: "[ISN] Air Force wins cyberexercise"

    http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,110514,00.asp
    
    Feds worry that businesses are too complacent about cyberthreats.
    
    Grant Gross, IDG News Service
    Wednesday, April 30, 2003
    
    WASHINGTON -- The secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland
    Security is looking for a few good technology ideas.
    
    Tom Ridge, sworn in as the secretary of the new U.S. federal agency in
    January, highlighted his department's need for technological
    innovations during a speech before nearly 1,000 members of the
    Northern Virginia Technology Council in McLean, Virginia, Tuesday.  
    Ridge also called for the technology businesspeople in attendance to
    do more to protect the U.S. technology infrastructure, noting that
    private companies control 85 percent of the nation's cyber resources.
    
    "When it comes to security, you must be more than partners, you must
    be leaders," Ridge said. "We think that the lessons learned from Y2K
    and 9/11 should be applied and not forgotten. This will not be a
    cost-free arrangement, but the cost of doing little or nothing will be
    much higher."
    
    Too Relaxed?
    
    A recent poll showed that about half of U.S. companies aren't backing
    up files, checking new employees' backgrounds, or conducting emergency
    drills, Ridge said, and he fears that some U.S. residents may be
    "lapsing into complacency" about the possibility of terrorist attacks.
    
    That study, commissioned by the New York security services firm
    Guardsmark, surveyed more than 200 U.S. security professionals in
    early March, and 44 percent of respondents said they were not backing
    up important files at remote locations.
    
    "You need to be just as worried, maybe even more worried, about
    somebody hacking into your system as somebody pulling up with
    explosives," Ridge said. "We've got some work to do."
    
    A Few Good Ideas
    
    Ridge spent much of his speech talking about the need his agency has
    for good technology ideas that protect U.S. borders and citizens. He
    touted an agency Web site that collects technology ideas related to
    domestic security. He talked about several technology initiatives at
    the Department of Homeland Security, including personal radiation
    detectors for all border agents and gamma ray scans of shipping
    containers at border stations, but he said more new technology ideas
    are needed.
    
    He even gave an example, asking the audience if anyone had an idea for
    a portable device that can scan for biological, chemical, and
    radiological hazards, as well as explosives and guns. "If you've got
    one of those ... we'd be happy to talk to you about it," he said.
    
    The technology Ridge's agency needs is either out there, or it can be
    created by the U.S. technology sector, Ridge added. "We want to create
    a climate where our needs and your abilities meet," he said. "We want
    to show you that homeland security is not incompatible with your
    bottom line."
    
    Ridge asked the crowd for "good ideas and cost-effective solutions"  
    for domestic security that can be copied across the U.S. "You are the
    innovators," he told the crowd. "America's future is, at least in
    part, in your hands."
    
    
    
    -
    ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org
    
    To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn'
    in the BODY of the mail.
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu May 01 2003 - 03:11:33 PDT