Study: proposed Homeland Dept. is too large. According to an independent study by the Brookings Institution, President Bush's proposal to create a Department of Homeland Security "merges too many different activities into a single department" and should be significantly scaled back if it is to have any chance of success. The study urged Congress to move cautiously as it considers the White House proposal to merge all or parts of 22 agencies into a department with a $38 billion budget and approximately 170,000 employees. The study comes as Congress is moving to act on the reorganization, with the House and Senate preparing separate versions of a bill for votes later this month. Many congressional leaders are pushing to approve a final version of the homeland security bill by the one-year anniversary of the 11 September attacks, although some lawmakers have grumbled about the rapid pace of deliberations. (Washington Post, 14 Jul) OMB may freeze homeland projects. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) may freeze funds for information technology projects at agencies slated to join the proposed Department of Homeland Security. Recognizing that the new department must have the best possible communications, and all of the pieces of the department need to be on one network, officials aim to identify redundant plans for core IT systems and networks of the 22 agencies folding into the new department. OMB officials expect to release an initial IT architecture framework for the department this week, along with guidance for the affected agencies. According to OMB Director Mitchell Daniels Jr., the consolidation outlined in the framework could save hundreds of millions of dollars. ( Federal Computer Week, 15 Jul) Amendment to Cyber Security Enhancement Act. A substitute bill amending HR-3482 will give Internet service providers protection from liability if they believe that an emergency involving danger or death or serious physical injury to any person requires them to disclose information to federal, state, or local law enforcement. The house bill also includes tougher penalties for cybercrimes. The bill is expected to pass. (Washington Internet Daily, 13 Jul) Frethem: Virus tempts with peek at passwords. A new computer virus with the subject line "re: Your password!" was discovered around the Internet on 15 July. The virus, named 'Frethem,' is rated a medium risk by most researchers because it is spreading relatively quickly. The e-mail includes two attachments, a harmless text file named Password.txt and the worm, Decrypt-password.exe. The worm takes advantage of an old flaw in MS Outlook preview that allows it to execute even if the victim does not open the infected attachment. Currently, the worm does not seem to do anything malicious to infected computers, other then clog up e-mail systems with extra messages. Vincent Gullotto, vice president of McAfee's Avert Labs, said his firm has received about 100 submissions of the worm. Symantec rates the worm's threat as a 3 on a scale of 1 to 5. Frethem is not expected to reach the level of Melissa or the recent Klez worm. Consumers can protect themselves by updating their antivirus software. (MSNBC.com, 15 Jul) Hacker group targets countries that censor Internet. Some of the world's best-known hackers unveiled a plan this weekend to offer free software to promote anonymous Web surfing in countries where the Internet is censored, especially China and Middle Eastern nations. An international hacker group calling itself Hactivismo released the Camera/Shy program on 13 July. This program allows Internet users to conceal messages inside photos posted on the Web, bypassing most known police monitoring methods. Mixter, an internationally known German hacker, said Hactivismo was preparing in coming weeks to launch technology, which if adopted widely could allow anyone to create grass-roots, anonymous networks where Internet users worldwide could access and share information without a trace. (Yahoo.com/news, 15 Jul)
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