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The FBI Wants To Know About Your IT Skills
AHuxley writes "The FBI, via the Office of Management and Budget, would like to find out more about your information technology expertise if you are part of InfraGard. Terms like 'practical utility' have been included in a 60-day emergency notice of information collection via the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Is your boss or cubicle colleague part of InfraGard? It's a private, non-profit organization run as a public-private partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Are they passing info back about you or your company?"
I am a member of InfraGard. In the past, our local FBI office has asked members of our chapter to self-identify their expertise in a particular IT specialty. I and others did so, and subsequently assisted them in a couple of criminal investigations. I think the FBI just wants to broaden and formalize their inventory of IT subject matter experts.
Disclaimer; I'm an Infragard member (have been for about 7 years). Why are they collecting this? Easy, they're public/private partnership that focuses on emergency response. "In the event", they want to know who within there membership has skills that may be needed. Don't like it, don't join (or quit). Don't want them to have your data, make them remove it (you have the legal right to do so). No conspiratorial aspect here.
Most people didn't. They panicked when they saw the headline.
I've known about InfraGard for a while now. It's more of a group of security consulting people, gathered together to try to get a solid handle on securing the infrastructure of the country.
I might be in the minority here, but this request is probably more in line with gathering a list for the FBI to go contact when they need an independent contractor for something. Like you said...while there's some aspects of tech they've got a handle on, there's others including this sort of thing that they just simply don't- and I'm thinking they thought it might be useful to get a list of that class of individual and what they do so they know who to turn to for help when they need it.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Of the three things you mentioned, only one is an acronym and thus only one should be ALL CAPS.
Gestapo is a shortened version of "Geheime Staatspolizei"
and Stasi is a shortened version of "Ministerium für Staatssicherheit"
I have taught classes to an InfraGuard chapter in my area, it is quite different than the scary statements that have been made by many.
It is about being aware of your vulnerabilities and developing contingency plans and fairly basic security procedures to make it less easy for someone to mess with your infrastructure. Most of the folks who attend the InfraGuard monthly meetings are already in middle management and have been tasked with the chore of improving security. While pretty much anyone can participate there are levels to it. Some information is compartmentalized on a need to know basis when it comes to specific incidents or threats.
Tisha Hayes