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Aussie Spies Spooked By Cyberwar
An anonymous reader writes "Wikileaks cables released overnight revealed that Australia's top cyber spy agency (akin to the NSA) was unprepared for cyberwar in the view of other intelligence agencies in 2008. Australian agencies were so concerned they asked US intelligence to provide the framework to defend the country's critical information infrastructure, modelling on the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. Spooks also discussed how Israel was preparing to take down Iran's nuclear program and how to stay relevant when so much information that was classified was now open source and available to anyone."
We have the only submarines on the planet that can be heard from Alpha Centauri. It's not surprising we're sh*t-scared of cyberwar.
...asking the US for tips on information security wasn't probably the best idea.
THL phish sticks
"...to stay relevant when so much information that was classified was now open source and available to anyone."
They are now in much the same situation with cables such as this being "open source and available to anyone".
Cheers, Chris
Spooks also discussed how Israel was preparing to take down Iran's nuclear program and how to stay relevant when so much information that was classified was now open source and available to anyone.
Well, they got *that* part right.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Redundant solution, any of their secure computers are fully isolated from the net, along with protocols in place that no removable media are allowed near them and any old hard drives are put through an incinerator.
That's not the problem they have, its mainly to do with having the infrastructure that keeps a country 'working' being attacked, power, water, emergency services, etc.
...
Analysts were required to be efficient intelligence processing units whose effectiveness was "determined by the speed and efficiency by which [they] can sift through the volume to highlight 'what is important' and put it into context for decision makers"
Perl
What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
I think the root cause with the DSD is that they don't pay very well. I looked at it as a grad and it wasn't too bad. These days grads are probably pretty good in the crypto department but I doubt they get listened too inside the first twenty years. By that time the good ones have left.
Ask yourself: why didn't they hire Julian Assange? I am sure the cultural reasons will fill several pages for a start.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
are you right wing americans happy now ? peace ?
Read radical news here
MHO of what you need to commit cyber crime with impunity in Australia is; a computer and Internet access. As long as you are not a total moron, I think it would be very difficult for the AG to win a case without substantial (FBI) international help.
Ask yourself: why didn't they hire Julian Assange? I am sure the cultural reasons will fill several pages for a start.
Wait... Julian Assange has actual skills?!
We live, as we dream -- alone....
The subs are expensive things that whoever is in opposition likes to complain about and whoever is in government likes to use for pork. Minor problems were blown out of proportion, sometimes even after they had been fixed. Then there were things like expensive modifications were done to allow for extremely dodgy procurement deals which kept the subs out of the water. "Free trade" talks with the USA were not going well and it was difficult to get access to some people in US government, then suddenly there was a plan to buy a lot of surplus torpedoes of a size nobody makes anymore and modify the subs so that they will fit. The talks then went ahead and it was a problem for a later government to modify the subs again once that lot of torpedoes is unusable.
It's not just subs, there was the purchase of the sprightly old Sea Sprites which were not safe to fly over water and had been considered obsolete in the 1970s. It had to be corruption because stupidity of that level would be inconsistant with making it to an adult age alive.
Basically if any one "thing" can be turned on or off and any one person has the motivation to flip the switch it will likely be done. The over use of technology is so massively redundant I really doubt there is a way to protect a switch that can be thrown miles away from a coffee shop while reading the daily paper. I bet even if we removed every wire that ultimately influenced the operation of any device the first thing we would do is create a robot that could walk over to the switch and flip it, hell put the web cam on top on facebook for good measure.
A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
Ask yourself: why didn't they hire Julian Assange? I am sure the cultural reasons will fill several pages for a start.
Wait... Julian Assange has actual skills?!
Yes [1] [2]
http://michaelsmith.id.au
I imagine the fact that he is a felon in Australia with a history of mental breakdowns would top the list. And no, I'm not talking about anything to do with Wikileaks.
I imagine the fact that he is a felon in Australia with a history of mental breakdowns would top the list.
Hasn't always been the case. The fact is that the brightest people don't go to places like the DSD.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Any organization that deals with information security has an obvious (and paradoxical) problem when hiring talent: The most talented (if not experienced) people in information technology as well as security are hackers. Hackers are young, curious, idealistic, independent and anti-authoritarian. The very traits that comprise their talent also make them a potential liability in a rigid command structure.
Ask yourself: why didn't they hire Julian Assange? I am sure the cultural reasons will fill several pages for a start.
He most likely never applied?
Intelligence agencies are arguably disadvantaged with hiring because of the high level of secrecy involved. Some thoughts on why this may be the case:
Note that many of the points I highlighted above may in fact be desirable in their ability to filter out undesirable candidates. These issues may reduce the size of the pool of talent available when compared to a private sector organisation so there may be less talent to pick from.
I'm not sure why this is news? They realized a weakness and asked someone they thought had more knowledge for help. Thats what I EXPECT them to do.
When I know I'm out of my league and well beyond my knowledge base I ask someone else who's been doing it longer or more for some input.
Go on ya, Aussies, hope we gave you something useful. Maybe one day you can return the favor for some of the things you're better than us at.
As the song goes, Thats what friends are for.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
except that the "more knowledgable expert", has had their power grid given the how you doing
Their pentagon email routed to another country and have their confidential files published on the internet.
kind of like going to a boxer that mike tyson (in his prime), wiped the floor with and asking him to train you .....
or
asking GM how to run a successful car making company
sure we can detect one's unawareness from amount of abuse of the prefix CYBER
"won't somebody please help me, a dingo stole my packet!"
Consensus seems to be appointing a knowledgeable minster or whatever they have over there would resolve the problem. Instead they got some dummo with a political agenda to push.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
It was cyberfunny.