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GOVNET In the Works

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the cutting-off-your-nodes-to-spite-your-face dept.

gtg010b writes: "According to USA Today, the U.S. government is considering a private network to be used for all government communications. This network would be "separate from the Internet to keep it safe from hackers or terrorists" according to Richard Clarke, the head of the president's "cyberspace security adviser." Whatever happened to government not being above the people?" Clarke is the guy who's been crying "cyber Pearl Harbor" for a few years; apparently if you cry wolf long enough you get promoted. His request (.doc format) is informative. I should point out that the U.S. military already has such a network (I'm not even going to ask why the Feds can't piggy-back on it), so GOVNET would be for critically-important government agencies like the Department of Agriculture to communicate.

3 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Using the threat to accomplish hidden purposes. by Futurepower(tm) · · Score: 3, Informative


    People are using the terrorist threat to do things they wanted to do anyway, but would not normally be allowed.


    Secrecy and weapons sales corrupt democracy: What should be the Response to Violence?

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  2. Re:This is bad why? by baptiste · · Score: 3, Informative
    Because it's going to take our tax money, to pay for this

    Well, considering how many of your tax dollars are wasted when folks hack into their systems and mess them up... Makes sense.

    I think this is a great idea. If its thought out well. Heck many large companies do this - you have a set # of firewalsl controlled by ONE group of security professionals. They can link the major sites with some of the tons of dark fiber out there. Smaller sites - use VPN with high encryption over the Internet. That gives you a good cost point since its the small offices that can kill you for an Intranet. Link the large locations with private links. The next step would be to place all their public webservers under the auspices one a single web team to ensure the damn servers are setup properly and securly. But that'll never happen :) Isn't bureaucracy grand? :)

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  3. Nothing New by nathanm · · Score: 4, Informative
    The US gov't already has worldwide networks that aren't connected at all to the internet, at least in DOD.

    In the US Air Force, they refer to the internet as NIPRNET (Non-secure IP Router Network). Only unclassified info is sent across it, and sensitive unclassified or privacy act info is restricted to .mil or .gov users only.

    The other network is called SIPRNET (Secret IP Router Network). On military installations its conduit is encased in concrete, junction boxes are alarmed, & cable drops are only in secure areas. Off the installations it's encrypted. I imagine the encryption is pretty strong since NSA designs the algorithms.

    For more info check out these AF regulations:

    AFI 33-202: Computer Security

    AFMAN 33-221: Computer Security: Protected Distribution Systems (PDS)