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DHS Publishes Report on Operation Cyberstorm
uniquebydegrees writes "InfoWorld reports that the Department of Homeland Security has released the findings of Operation Cyber Storm, a large-scale simulation of combined cyber-physical attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure. From the article: 'According to DHS, "observers noted that players had difficulty ascertaining what organizations and whom within those organizations to contact when there was no previously established relationship or pre-determined plans for response coordination and risk assessments/mitigation. There was a general recognition of the difficulties organizations faced when attempting to establish trust with unfamiliar organizations during time of crisis."'"
> "observers noted that players had difficulty ascertaining what organizations and whom within those organizations to contact when there was no previously established relationship or pre-determined plans for response coordination and risk assessments/mitigation. There was a general recognition of the difficulties organizations faced when attempting to establish trust with unfamiliar organizations during time of crisis."
English:
"Situation Normal, All Fucked Up."
I don't want an effective Secret Police.
It wasn't what the U.S. signed on for in 1776 or 1789.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Actually, I think there's a lot of merit to the philosophy of "ineffective government". And it's definitely the case that the system of government we signed up for was designed to be as ineffective as possible without being completely useless.
However, in so far as we have government at all, I would prefer that it was able to act effectively in times of crisis.
I mean, think how much better off we'd be if FEMA, the State of Louisiana, and the City of New Orleans had thought to work out trust relationships and clear contingency plans and handoff of responsibilities, prior to the arrival of a giant fucking hurricane, yeah?
Besides, America has probably the most un-secret "secret police" of any nation in the world (unprovable conspiracy theories aside).
Also, the article isn't about the "secret police", but about the woefully feeble capabilities of government infrastructure agencies in general, to survive and recover from "cyber" attacks. You might want to save your "secret police" objections for an article about actual "secret police".
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
"DHS Publishes Report on Operation Cybertron"
The terrorists are after our energon cubes.
The FBI can't even get a modern computer to the majority of it's employees. FEMA "misallocated" (read: got suckered out of mucho money) more money than Bill Gates can come up with. DOT engineers have to fill out fifteen forms to receive a box of pencils. The IRS has to rely on outside collection agencies to retrieve back taxes. Veterans' benefits have been slashed - by a government - which claims to support our troops - creating more disabled veterans because of a war we had no business fighting (Iraq). The federal deficit is in the trillions, yet we cut taxes. How the hell am I supposed to be surprised that they can't maintain computer system security?
"Tu fui, ego eris" - Virgil
Link to the actual DHS press release: http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=5431/