[IWAR] RE: (g2i) US Infrastructure Protection Center

From: Jordan, Martin C. (jordanat_private)
Date: Fri Mar 06 1998 - 16:48:45 PST

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    Quoting from the referenced article below,
    
    "Criminals today have guns," Reno said. "Soon they will have computers
    and other weapons of mass destruction." 
    
    	Are computers now being equated with Chem/Bio/Nuclear weapons by
    the Federal Government?  I would certainly hope not, even though I
    appreciate the problems associate with IW-Protect.
    
    Regards,
    
    Martin Jordan
    
    > -----Original Message-----
    > From:	7Pillars Partners [SMTP:partnersat_private]
    > Sent:	Friday, March 06, 1998 1:07 PM
    > To:	g2i list; IWAR list
    > Subject:	(g2i) US Infrastructure Protection Center
    > 
    > U.S. moves on hacker threats 
    > 
    >   By Torsten Busse 
    >   InfoWorld Electric 
    > 
    >   Posted at 3:07 PM PT, Mar 5, 1998 
    >   U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has announced an interagency effort
    > to track
    > and analyze electronic threats to the
    >   nation's critical infrastructures, such as communications,
    > transportation,
    > and energy networks. 
    > 
    >   The new National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), headed by
    > Associate
    > Deputy Attorney General Michael
    >   Vatis, will include the Computer Investigations and Infrastructure
    > Threat
    > Assessment Center of the U.S. Federal
    >   Bureau of Investigation, and will add real-time intrusion-detection
    > capabilities for cyberattacks directed at various
    >   national, electronic infrastructures. 
    > 
    >   "Our telecommunications systems are more vulnerable than ever before
    > as we
    > rely on technology more than ever
    >   before," Reno said. 
    > 
    >   The NIPC will coordinate the efforts of a number of government
    > agencies in
    > setting up and operating defenses against
    >   cyberspace intrusions from both inside and outside the borders of
    > the United
    > States. Effective defense will depend on
    >   that cooperation, Reno said. 
    > 
    >   Reno will ask the U.S. Congress to commit $64 million for the NIPC
    > in fiscal
    > year 1999, a sum that will allow the
    >   establishment of six additional computer investigation centers in
    > U.S.
    > cities. 
    > 
    >   The private sector will also have a vital role to play in the
    > electronic
    > defense, Reno said. She called for direct
    >   electronic links between the private sector and law enforcement
    > agencies in
    > what she termed a "significant departure"
    >   from established procedures. However, those closer links must be set
    > up
    > within the confines of the U.S. Constitution
    >   and cannot infringe on individual rights and confidentiality, she
    > said. 
    > 
    >   The dimensions of the threat will also require international
    > collaboration,
    > given the possibility that someone "can sit in
    >   the kitchen in St. Petersburg, Russia, and can steal money from a
    > bank in New
    > York," Reno said. "Cyberspace
    >   crosses borders." 
    > 
    >   One of law enforcement agencies' biggest challenges currently is to
    > understand the origin of a cyberattack, Reno said.
    >   This includes determining whether an attack is domestic or
    > international, and
    > whether it is the work of a terrorist, a
    >   foreign state, a juvenile trying to crack the latest firewall, or a
    > disgruntled worker getting back at a supervisor, she
    >   said. 
    > 
    >   For that reason, the NIPC will strive to set up procedures that will
    > best
    > allow government agencies to analyze the
    >   nature and origin of the attacks and to assign responsibility to the
    > appropriate agency in a speedy manner. It will also
    >   be in charge of developing the means and methods of sharing
    > information and
    > equipment among agencies. 
    > 
    >   The NIPC will also develop training programs for state and local
    > agencies,
    > which Reno said are on the front line
    >   against cyberattacks. 
    > 
    >   "Criminals today have guns," Reno said. "Soon they will have
    > computers and
    > other weapons of mass destruction." 
    > 
    >   Reno also set up a special working group at the Department of
    > Justice to
    > streamline research and development efforts
    >   aimed at cybercrimes. 
    > 
    >   Initially the NIPC, which will be housed at FBI headquarters, will
    > employ 85
    > FBI agents and 40 employees from the
    >   Secret Service and the departments of Defense, Transportation, and
    > Energy,
    > said Kenneth Geide, the deputy chief of
    >   NIPC. Eventually, the center will add employees from other federal
    > agencies
    > and the private sector. Funding
    >   mechanisms have not yet been finalized. 
    > 
    >   In October 1997, the President's Commission on Critical
    > Infrastructure
    > Protection recommended that the government
    >   field a real-time warning capability modeled upon the military's
    > air-defense
    > and missile-warning system. 
    > 
    >   Torsten Busse is a San Francisco correspondent for the IDG News
    > Service, an
    > InfoWorld affiliate.
    > 
    > 
    > 
    



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