http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=25422 By Tamara Bartlett Daily Cal Staff Writer July 16, 2007 The U.S. Department of Energy issued a notice Friday proposing a $3.3 million fine against the University of California and other managers of the Los Alamos National Laboratory for an October security breach. The department and the National Nuclear Security Administration sent preliminary notices of the violation to the university and Los Alamos National Security, LLC with a proposed $3 million civil penalty against the university and $300,000 penalty against the security group in response to a 2006 incident involving the mishandling of classified documents. The classified material was discovered last October when police responded to a domestic disturbance near the lab at a trailer home that belonged to Jessica Quintana, a former subcontracted employee at the lab. During the investigation, the police confiscated the classified material along with drugs and drug paraphernalia found in the trailer home. According to the preliminary notices, the university and the security group, which includes the university, have 30 days to respond to the notices or they will have relinquished their right to appeal the violation and the penalty will be final. UC spokesperson Chris Harrington said in a statement the university plans to respond to the alleged violation, explaining that its contract with the lab ended in May 2006, before the alleged violation, and that the “incident involved the individual behavior of a subcontracted, non-UC/(lab) employee.” The department also issued a compliance order to the security group, which won a bid to oversee the lab in December 2005, requiring that it implement specific actions to fix the problems that led to the violation. The security group has 15 days to file an appeal if it wishes to contest the order. Violating the order could result in a notice of civil penalties of up to $100,000 per violation per day, the order stated. Harrington said in the statement that the university hopes to strengthen security. “The university remains outraged at the actions taken by the individual involved in this incident. We believe the type of behavior involved—a failure to follow clearly defined security protocols and a violation of the law—is completely unacceptable,” he said. _____________________________________________________ Attend Black Hat USA, July 28-August 2 in Las Vegas, the world's premier technical event for ICT security experts. Featuring 30 hands-on training courses and 90 Briefings presentations with lots of new content and new tools. Network with 4,000 delegates from 70 nations. Visit product displays by 30 top sponsors in a relaxed setting. Rates increase on June 1 so register today. http://www.blackhat.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Mon Jul 16 2007 - 02:22:13 PDT