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Dept. of Homeland Security To Build Better Cyber Workforce
coondoggie writes "Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today said the agency will form a cybersecurity workforce task group that will consider strategies such as expanding DHS involvement in cyber competitions and university programs, enhancing public-private security partnerships and working with other government agencies to develop a more agile cyber workforce across the federal government. The new task force will be co-chaired by hacking expert Jeff Moss who now works for the Homeland Security Advisory Council and Alan Paller is director of research at the SANS Institute."
Stop calling it "cyber".
-- Waiting in line at the airport terminal
Excuse me, sir.
Your laptop is of considerable interest to us.
-- DHS security walks in and takes the laptop
You wonder how America got to this point.
Well, finally I have an answer when all those pesky non-IT folks ask me what I do:
"I'm developing a more agile cyber workforce."
Delivered with an absolute deadpan face and voice. I will answer any follow up questions with:
"We are currently implementing plans to size the effort."
DHS, eh? Well, does this program make you feel more secure . . . ?
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
'agile' 'cybersecurity'
They need to flesh out these ideas with words like:
"realtime"
"game-changing"
"web 2.0"
"P3"
"next-gen"
"hyper-local"
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
MIC being the military-industrial complex, or as I like to call it, the military-industrial-congressional-contractor-prison-surveillance complex. Young people, go get computer science degrees with a specialization in security, so you can either work for the Pentagon or work for contractors working for the Pentagon.
Greenwald:
...anything it set out to do?
When Bruce Schneier and Eugene Kaspersky sign on, it will be apparent that there
are true experts in the field.
Until then, the US Department of Homeland Security is nothing more than a joke.
They disrupt airline travel, train travel, and now have roving "viper" patrols to
harass motorists. They've done nothing useful in 10 years. That's right, an
entire decade of harassing travelers... with nothing to show for it.
"Well you haven't seen terrorists take over airplanes, so clearly we're effective!"
I haven't seen Santa Claus or Jesus either, so I'm guessing DHS took them out
at the same time as all the terrorists. Either that or the terrorists really used
airplanes as an attack vector 11 years ago and have now MOVED ON.
Do they know anything about "Cyber" security? If so, have they stopped using
Microsoft Windows -- the number one attack vector of computer security problems --
and moved to a secure operating system? No. Are they still using Internet
Explorer -- the most malware open browser -- to view the Internet? Yes. Are they
still sending meeting requests to each other using Outlook -- the most malware-
friendly scheduling tool -- yes.
Until DHS can demonstrate a purpose, reason for existence, an understanding of
technology in general [milimeter wave spectroscopy, let alone Windows], they are
not only the WRONG leader to follow. They are a loud obnoxious neighbor throwing
up in everyone else's back yard.
E
Dismantle the "homeland security" department. Wipe them out as they are useless waste of money.
Step 2 - give the funds to the FBI and CIA, the people that actually have been doing this stuff for far longer and are far better at it.
Step 3 - allow the FBI to shoot any senator that tries to make yet another department for "Security" so he can help his donors businesses.
No the CIA cant shot senators, they are not supposed to work inside the USA.
This is the problem. We used to have a clean division. FBI Inside, CIA outside. that way we don't get Traitorous acts of spying on US citizens by the CIA happening in secret, like we get with the Homeland Security.
But then checks and balances get's in the way of profits and power, and we cant have that.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Open your wallet even wider!
Rules for new hires ....
I used to work on government contracts where clearance was required and have applied for contract jobs recently. The old guard boss is still there and he is more clueless than ever.
During the interview, it was clear: ....
* Nobody interviewing me was qualified to do that from a technical perspective. They were smart, just not smart about anything related to computers, networking,
* My skill set addressed 3 of their open positions. I'm serious.
* My rate was pretty low, yet the 3 guys kept talking about how expensive I was.
* The clearance from my prior job was 5.1 yrs old - WITH THE SAME COMPANY, just at a different place. The interviewer/manager couldn't be bothered to look up the name of the security officer at the other location.
* After I was deemed to be a perfect fit - aircraft, networking, languages, sys admin - the boss decided to list all the mandatory aspects of the job.
** be on time. Start time for my job was 7am at the latest. I'm serious. 7am **everyday**, regardless of what was happening that day. I understand that 4am was commonly needed - that was the nature of this specific job. Testing new aircraft is an early morning thing.
** Never talk back. He actually said that.
** Lunch was 30 minutes. Ok, this was getting funny.
** No leaving work early - PERIOD. Not even for Dr appointments. If I needed to pick up a sick kid early from school, I could be fired.
This boss seemed to have been from the 50s. I think he worked on an aircraft assembly line, not with "professionals" and he definitely didn't have a clue about IT people.
A week later, I followed up with the interviewer (mainly to be polite) to see where I stood. He hadn't done anything. I'd already decided to take a different position, for a 30% higher rate, which I know now is still cheap. 3 weeks later, he called me back and seemed shocked that I was working somewhere else.
Government hiring managers are clueless. They don't understand the competitive nature of the world and that people have other opportunities - some much more interesting for much more pay without all the hassles from old-style bosses.
I don't want to say that all government bosses are like this, I've worked on other contracts where I was treated with respect, paid fairly, had a great boss - we worked long and hard doing great things for the government - it was good.
I remember going to a recruitment meeting at my college for some 3-letter agencies. After all the hype in the first 10 minutes, they said that if you'd ever used any drugs, including pot, you would not be hired. 50% of the room got up and walked out. I think the other 50% were 80% liars. Personally, I don't want people who have never inhaled making decisions about my life and definitely don't want someone so straight to represent the USA abroad.
Anyway, to be happier at a new job, you'll want to
* get the pay scale early in the process
* get any "work rules" understood
* find out if your actual boss is a prick
Moms and dads ask - will s/he advance in a blue or white shirt?
Or keep saving and try a National Center of Academic Excellence in IA Education.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Yea, that's not frightening. Not at all.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
As much as I dislike the word "cyber" and the overuse of it as a prefix, it's not really "wrong" anymore.
I agree, particularly in the context of US Homeland security we should refer to the new workforce as cybermen: emotionless, de-humanized creatures who have no compassion. Not only will this likely be accurate but it might also stop them using the term 'cyber' for everything.
The best thing to do for national security is to immediately de-fund and dissolve the Department of Homeland Security. WTF is a "Homeland" anyway? Is that like a "Fatherland" or "Motherland?" As an American, as one whose ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence and also who got here long, long before, I am deeply offended by and opposed to calling this country anything but "The Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave."
DHS, and their child agency, TSA, need to clear out their desks immediately and to not let the door hit them on the ass on the way out. They must be not only barred from ever working in government again, but to be stripped of their citizenship and exiled to North Korea, Cuba, or some other sufficiently totalitarian state more predisposed to their dysfunction.
If not us, who? If not now, when?
Cybersecurity has got to be a great job! Why just the other day I submitted a story about how a fellow from the State Department said the cybersecurity "would most assure 30 years of steady, well-paying employment".
What do you say cyber dudes (and dudettes) out there? Are recruiters calling you? Are you getting retention or sign-on bonuses? Is the grass really that green over there?
In April my university's Information Security club held a cyber defense competition geared for high school students. This was funded in full by the government (NSA or the DOD, I don't remember specifically which). Their motive behind it was to get the students interested in info sec so that they'll hopefully have these kids in the workforce later on. It was a lot of fun and our club made up the white and red team. We had a great time and so did the students so I guess it was a success.
They never outline a clear path from University to a job in Cyber Security. All the Cyber Security jobs they talk about expect years of experience, a security clearance, and social connections. Most people will be lucky to have just one of those qualifications.
As far as skills go they can take any college student off the street. As far as experience goes they can find some people who have skills and experience. When they want skills, experience and a security clearance then their list is drastically smaller. When they want all of this and want to pay chump change, then they run into problems.
If their goal is to build a cyber workforce, in my opinion the answer is paid internships. If they offer 10,000 paid internships a year they'll have a skilled workforce in no time. If they want to save money they could even get away with offering it unpaid and in this economy people would still take it.
android is a bad example of why Linux is insecure. First off name one drive by download virus or self executing virus for android, scrap that name one actual virus for android, there aren't any at least in the wild. what there are is malware. malware exist for all systems and is an entirely different problem than viruses, maleware must be installed by the user/admin to run. meaning you have to give it permission to run i the first place. secondly the permission system on android is fubared.
these problem don't occur in gnu/linux (as opposed to android/linux) for a number of reasons, one of whice is that you are allowed to be root and that isn' the special right of google, phone carrier, or manufacturer it is you. you can secure it and fix holes, those holes are left in the android system to make it easer for grandma to use her phone. where on gnu linux there is maleware you don't usualy see it because most apps are available via a well vetted repository system where the maintainers and users can review the source code and catch malaware ( malware writers don't want you to see the code because you might remove their crap and have a usable app and they would get caught.) there are also binary only apps in some distos repositories but those are still vetted nut not at the source level. with google apps however the is a much less stringent vetting system they are trying but there is still the issue of fubared permission that they are not willing to fix, which will perpetuate the problem.
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.