New Language: Transparency means secretly spying…
July 8, 2010
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Posted by Michael S. Langston
In other administration news, WSJ Online is reporting (here):
The federal government is launching an expansive program dubbed “Perfect Citizen” to detect cyber assaults on private companies and government agencies running such critical infrastructure as the electricity grid and nuclear-power plants, according to people familiar with the program….
As a concerned citizen, you might ask yourself… how will this work?
…The surveillance by the National Security Agency, the government’s chief eavesdropping agency, would rely on a set of sensors deployed in computer networks for critical infrastructure that would be triggered by unusual activity suggesting an impending cyber attack, though it wouldn’t persistently monitor the whole system, these people said….
& herein lies the problem…. the internet wasn’t designed to predict or prevent attacks, so the question becomes – how do they plan to do this?
Do they plan to redesign the internet? Or do they plan to spy on all computers connected? Combination of both?*
In this age of “transparency” I’m sure we can find out:
….Defense contractor Raytheon Corp. recently won a classified contract for the initial phase of the surveillance effort valued at up to $100 million, said a person familiar with the project.
An NSA spokeswoman said the agency had no information to provide on the program. A Raytheon spokesman declined to comment….
Ahhhh…. that clears it up. The administration bent on transparency is implementing a secret program to monitor most internet activity without telling anyone what it is.
Please note: I do agree that say specific intrusion detection techniques and encryption would be left out of the public.
But for this administration, the transparent, no more Patriot Act administration, to task the world’s number one cyber-spy agency to secretly monitor internet activity of American citizens without telling those citizens exactly what it’s doing – well, whatever it is, it’s not transparent.
*side bar* To get an idea of cybersecurity threats, how difficult it is to detect without intruding on personal computers, and just an overall great article about a real life cyber-mystery, I highly recommend The Enemy Within published by The Atlantic:
When the Conficker computer “worm” was unleashed on the world in November 2008, cyber-security experts didn’t know what to make of it. It infiltrated millions of computers around the globe. It constantly checks in with its unknown creators. It uses an encryption code so sophisticated that only a very few people could have deployed it. For the first time ever, the cyber-security elites of the world have joined forces in a high-tech game of cops and robbers, trying to find Conficker’s creators and defeat them. The cops are failing. And now the worm lies there, waiting ……
The full article is well worth the time.
Categories: Legislation, Politics, Science
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Tags: Cybersecurity, Internet, Legislation, NSA, Obama Administration, Politics, The Atlantic, Transparency, WSJ
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The Atlantic article really was worth reading-even for computer illiterates (AKA me). I loved how Bowden used Star Trek to explain the process of the virus. I had no idea there was an underground botnet market but the most fascinating concept is the true purpose of the Conficker. Was it just to see if It was possible, and the only test part of the confirmation? Is it one person, or is it a government?
Excellent point, though portable pensions are semi-new (for instance federal pensions aren’t portable). No excuse on my part, I should’ve looked it up and appreciate you helping me as always.
Thank you.