U.S. Asked to Pay $100 Million for Cybersecurity

[The_root_of_all_evil]

U.S. Asked to Pay $100 Million for Cybersecurity

"Pay me now or pay me later," says Brigadier General John Davis after he unveiled the cost of protecting the Pentagon from cyberassault.

According to Davis, "In the last six months, we spent more than $100 million reacting to things on our networks after the fact. It would be nice to spend that money proactively to put things in place so we'd be more active and proactive in posture rather than cleaning up after the fact."

Davis is the deputy commander for network operations for the US Strategic Council and he seems to have his head on straight over where the money is being drained from. "I don't think anybody realizes how much better shape we'd be in if we just did the basics right," he said. "People need to just apply the basic rules and procedures that have been put in place to protect ourselves." This includes simple things like not using portable data storage due to the threats caused by certain virii [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/88732-Three-Million-Hit-By-Windows-Worm-Updated].

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), in the mean time, has already awarded $30 million to the main players trying to upgrade the security system to improve the security "by orders of magnitude above our current systems."

The networks themselves are perhaps among the most at risk by attackers, being hit thousands of times a day, ranging from "bored teenagers to the nation state with criminal elements sandwiched in there."

This week, reports said Chinese and Russian cyberspies penetrated the U.S. electrical grid with the intent of being able to disrupt it in a time of conflict. Perhaps this is why Senators Snowe and Rockefeller are pushing for the internet Army [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.105431]?

Source: Network World [http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/40737] via Slashdot [http://slashdot.org/]

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[randommaster]

I know someone who does this on a smaller scale for a private business. They constntly have trouble with people playing games, watching movies, and storing porn on the office computers and then complaining when thier computer slows to a crawl because of all the spyware.

Maybe the Pentagon's staff are playing tower deffence games all day and not acctually doing work.

 

[zoozilla]

The networks themselves are perhaps among the most at risk by attackers, being hit thousands of times a day, ranging from "bored teenagers to the nation state with criminal elements sandwiched in there."

I found that extremely funny.

"Today, someone who calls himself XxSpartanPwnerxX broke into the Pentagon's security networks..."

 

[SenseOfTumour]

The pavements outside the Whitehouse are hit thousands of times a day by the feet of people walking around.

There's a huge difference between a hit and an attack when it comes to network defence.

Hell how many hits does the Escapist get and how many 'attacks' does it get out of those?

 

[JakubK666]

Hell how many hits does the Escapist get and how many 'attacks' does it get out of those?

Well, we do get DDoS'd every Wednesday.

 

[Nimbus]

Hell how many hits does the Escapist get and how many 'attacks' does it get out of those?

Well, we do get DDoS'd every Wednesday.

Hehehe, good one.

Seriously though, SenseofTumor raises a good point.

 

[Tech Team FTW!]

According to Davis, "In the last six months, we spent more than $100 million reacting to things on our networks after the fact. It would be nice to spend that money proactively to put things in place so we'd be more active and proactive in posture rather than cleaning up after the fact."

The fact? What is the fact? How did it cost $100 million just to react to?

Also, Root of all evil, where do you get all your news?

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Also, they've spent $100 million, and bored teenagers are still easily wandering thru the Pentagon's networks?

I think they should spend the first $10 on research as to where to spend the rest, as the last $100 million didn't do much for security.

 

[scotth266]

The networks themselves are perhaps among the most at risk by attackers, being hit thousands of times a day, ranging from "bored teenagers to the nation state with criminal elements sandwiched in there."

I found that extremely funny.

"Today, someone who calls himself XxSpartanPwnerxX broke into the Pentagon's security networks..."

What, haven't you seen Wargames? You can also hack pay telephones!

Also, they've spent $100 million, and bored teenagers are still easily wandering thru the Pentagon's networks?

I think they should spend the first $10 on research as to where to spend the rest, as the last $100 million didn't do much for security.

A lol to you good sir, but then again our government spends our studying money on things like fruit fly research. We have no time for important things like national security interwebs and whosawhatzits.

 

[countrysteaksauce]

$100 million? That's a drop in the bucket. I say give them 500 million.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Also, Root of all evil, where do you get all your news?

I have a team of highly trained Vashta Nerada to do my bidding.