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NSA to Become Government Net 'Traffic Cop?'

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the traffic-redirector dept.

OriginalArlen writes "The NSA may be appointed 'Internet traffic cop', overseeing data sharing among US government agencies for Homeland Security, according to an A.P. report on SecurityFocus. Apparently the aim is to improve security of all government networks." This would seem to follow in the footsteps of creating the Department of Homeland Security, since the aim is to enable better sharing of data between government institutions.

5 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. NSA == Spy && !SecurityInforcer by Space_Soldier · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "Apparently the aim is to improve security of all government networks." That does not make sense; is not the job of the NSA to brake security of any network in order to easedrop on the conversations? It is a spy agency, not a security agency.

    1. Re:NSA == Spy && !SecurityInforcer by PornMaster · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't know if you remember the Clipper Chip initiative from the Clinton Administration -- '93/'94, but the NSA was pushing to get a key-escrow encryption chip in production and mandated for use when communicating sensitive data with the Feds.

      Of course, nobody outside the US would use it, since the gov't would keep a backdoor key...

      Here's some info from NIST about it that plainly talks about the NSA's involvement.

      --
      500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
  2. erm... by REBloomfield · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can't read the article, as my wonderful UK Government overseers have deemed it bad enough to go on the proxy blacklist, but... how is policing Government networks the same as policing the entire Internet???

  3. Well hey... by EvilTwinSkippy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The best cops are the ones you don't know are there.

    --
    "Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
    --Dr.W.Edwards Deming
  4. Re:Anybody want to guess? by digitalchinky · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The 'effort' will cost virtually nothing more than one of the front end operators tuning up a modem somewhere, or adding a couple extra patches to the spiderweb...

    There's a logical reason for doing this - NSA has people already trained, systems already in place, will not cost the tax payer too much extra cash.

    DSD is going in a similar direction - no matter how much the public like to jump up and down about it - it's the way of the future. Ok, so ASIO is meant to deal with domestic tapping, but has a very 'strong' history of 'borrowing' DSD personnel for the technical aspects - why 'not' get DSD to do it?

    Simplification basically is the reason - no conspiracy theories, it just makes sense. If you are 'shocked' at this move, you are essentially blind to things that have been going on since the 'internet' started.