NSA Firing 90% of Its Sysadmins

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NSA Firing 90% of Its Sysadmins

Posted by Soulskill on Friday August 9, 2013 @03:37AM from the because-angering-sysadmins-has-worked-so-well-in-the-past dept.

sl4shd0rk writes "NSA Director Keith Alexander has decided that the best way to prevent illegal data leaks is to reduce the number of ears and eyes involved. During a talk at a cybersecurity conference in New York this week, Alexander revealed his plans to cut 90% of the System Administration workforce at the NSA. 'What we're in the process of doing — not fast enough — is reducing our system administrators by about 90 percent,' he said. Alluding to an issue of mistrust, Alexander further clarified: 'At the end of the day it's about people and trust ... if they misuse that trust they can cause huge damage.' Apparently, breaking the law and lying about it leaves one without a sense of irony when speaking in public."

35 of 634 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Hmm by spike+hay · 2013-08-09 03:39 · Score: 5, Insightful

So having a huge amount of very disgruntled people with at least previous access to large amounts of classified data isn't a security risk?

--
If you don't understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth.
1. Re:Hmm by the+eric+conspiracy · 2013-08-09 03:43 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Previous access to stuff that really isn't secret any more.
2. Re:Hmm by ebno-10db · 2013-08-09 03:58 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  How do you know Snowden got everything worth spilling? He was only one low level guy.
  Dear de facto Dictator for Life Putin,
  May I suggest you hang out a big "Welcome former NSA sysadmins" sign on your country. Tell 'em the weather is cold but the girls are hot (and something for the women sysadmins too - we Yanks frown on sexism). Your country may be a sewer due to its government, but as an American I'd be very grateful for anything you can do to help expose the use of our Constitution as toilet paper.
3. Re:Hmm by Feyshtey · 2013-08-09 04:08 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  My initial question was, if you can do the work with 90 people, why the FUCK were you paying 900?!? And people actually debate against the need to reduce the size of government...
  
  --
  "But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
4. Re:Hmm by MaskedSlacker · 2013-08-09 04:22 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  That is the incorrect question. The correct question is: "Why aren't you firing 100%?"
5. Re:Hmm by Stargoat · 2013-08-09 04:42 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  He makes America look like a foolish and ineffectual power mad state. Part of the Great Game is marketing, after all.
  
  --
  Hoist Number One and Number Six.
6. Re:Hmm by Penguinisto · 2013-08-09 04:45 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  What motivation does Putin have to do that?
  Cheaper than hiring and inserting spies, for starters.
  
  --
  Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
7. Re:Hmm by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2013-08-09 04:49 · Score: 5, Insightful
  ". . . I had no prior knowledge of the Watergate break-in; I neither took part in nor knew about any of the subsequent coverup activities; I neither authorized nor encouraged subordinates to engage in illegal or improper campaign tactics." (also: "I am not a crook.")
  "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."
  "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."
  "We don't have a domestic spying program."
  --
  "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
  Never been known to fail..."
8. Re:Hmm by the+eric+conspiracy · 2013-08-09 04:56 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  If some guy with a GED who had been on the job for 3 months got as much as Snowden did, what makes you think a real spy ring wouldn't just get everything?
9. Re:Hmm by RabidReindeer · 2013-08-09 04:59 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  That's called denial an one should have their mental health evaluated.
  If you're looking for mental health in government, you're going to have a bad time.
10. Re:Hmm by cayenne8 · 2013-08-09 05:00 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Isn't Obama the one who said we don't have a cold war relationship with Russia anymore?
  Isn't Obama the one who has said a LOT of things over the past couple years that have had nothing to do with reality?
  Remember, this is all just a bunch of "phony" scandal/controversy.
  
  --
  Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
11. Re:Hmm by DrGamez · 2013-08-09 05:35 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  America: Branches of the government growing out of control now revealed to be snooping on all sorts of our private data.
  Russia: Literally killing gays and advocating for homosexuals to have their lives made miserable.
  I'm fine with calling bullshit on both of them - nobody has to win here.
At the end of the day by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-09 03:41 · Score: 5, Funny

"At the end of the day it's about people and trust"
I... it's.... but...
*pop*
1. Re:At the end of the day by ColdWetDog · 2013-08-09 03:50 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  From TFA:
  
  Using technology to automate much of the work now done by employees and contractors would make the NSA's networks "more defensible and more secure," as well as faster, he said at the conference.
  Which sounds eerily like:
  
  The strategy behind Skynet's creation was to remove the possibility of human error and slow reaction time to guarantee a fast, efficient response to enemy attack.
  Skynet was originally activated by the military to control the national arsenal on August 4, 1997, at which time it began to learn at a geometric rate. On August 29, it gained self-awareness, and the panicking operators, realizing the extent of its abilities, tried to deactivate it. Skynet perceived this as an attack and came to the conclusion that all of humanity would attempt to destroy it.
  
  Be afraid. Be very afraid.
  
  --
  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
2. Re:At the end of the day by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-09 04:21 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  The thing is, see, that Skyne.., er, Colossus.., er, the NSA's system has already reached that point, and it's the one telling Alexander to fire most of the people who might be able to turn it off...
  It's already too late.
So firing 90% of their admins by kommakazi · 2013-08-09 03:41 · Score: 5, Interesting

and pissing them all off, giving them no job to lose, is going to somehow *prevent* further leaks? Brilliant!!!!
1. Re:So firing 90% of their admins by h4rr4r · 2013-08-09 03:49 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  And announcing that you are going to fire 90% of them ahead of time. So they have lots of time to collect what they want to leak.
2. Re:So firing 90% of their admins by cusco · 2013-08-09 03:59 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  And create dummy accounts with remote access, hide old desktop machines in dusty closets with modems attached to the fax machine, and take home that secondary hard drive out of their desktop machine. I tell you, this guy is truly a manager's manager!
  
  --
  "Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
3. Re:So firing 90% of their admins by camperdave · 2013-08-09 04:18 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Hang on! It says reducing their sysadmins by 90%. Surely that means instituting a high fiber, low carb diet, and an exercise regimen.
  
  --
  When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
4. Re:So firing 90% of their admins by Quila · 2013-08-09 04:27 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Or, they just set up massive auditing everywhere and aren't really going to fire anybody. Now they just sit back and watch which admins start accessing stuff they aren't supposed to. A bunch of little snively Snowdens we'll grab before they can flee justice.
So then, this is the way you secure your systems by Chris+Mattern · 2013-08-09 03:42 · Score: 5, Insightful

You fire all the people who are responsible for the security of your systems. Wait, what?
Question.... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-09 03:43 · Score: 5, Interesting

Can we fire 90% of the NSA?
1. Re:Question.... by i+kan+reed · 2013-08-09 03:44 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  As long as we imprison the other 10%
2. Re:Question.... by tolkienfan · 2013-08-09 04:23 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  It's not a waste of time - you're the target.
  You don't agree with the government.
Alternatively... by Nogami_Saeko · 2013-08-09 03:45 · Score: 5, Insightful

They could just pay them well, give them a fair amount of responsibility and respect, and, perhaps... not break the law or violate the constitution.

--
"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
1. Re:Alternatively... by Anubis+IV · 2013-08-09 03:55 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Oh sure. Just ask for the world on a plate while you're at it, why don't you? What next? Ask us to stop lying to Congress or sharing intelligence on foreign citizens of countries that agree to do the same for our citizens?
  -- NSA
Not the mistrust issue we were thinking of by Sockatume · 2013-08-09 03:47 · Score: 5, Insightful

Am I reading this right? The NSA think that the issue of mistrust around PRISM is that we worry some whistleblower will leak our information, and not that it's being harvested in the first place? They're deep into cognitive dissonance land over there I see.

--
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
total stupidity by MickyTheIdiot · 2013-08-09 03:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

He is going to increase the work of each sysadmin by 10x... ->
Making what is perpetually an overworked position 10x worse ->
Making it not worth the stress for the amount of pay ->
Making every sysadmin in the NSA a ripe target for various bribes...
BRILLIANT!
The people in leadership positions in the USA (government and corporate) are all idiots.
Re:So... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2013-08-09 03:52 · Score: 5, Interesting

I assume that sysadmins score particularly badly on the 'amount of access vs. degree of trust' metric.
Barring really elegant, or unbearably onerous, system design, (which the NSA apparently didn't bother with, since one comparatively junior sysadmin at a contracting company, not even in house, apparently had massive access to the juicy details) sysadmins tend to have enormous power over your systems, access (because somebody has to run backups) to your files and email, etc, etc.
Amazing by gmuslera · 2013-08-09 04:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

An organization that have no respect for other people having no respect for their workers too? Working for them is no magic shield, only gives them more tools to hit you harder when comes your turn.
ever hear of best practices?! by Thud457 · 2013-08-09 04:06 · Score: 5, Insightful

During a talk at a cybersecurity conference in New York this week, Alexander revealed his plans to cut 90% of the System Administration workforce

DERP
holy shit, why not give them a warning that you're going to kick their ass to the curb before security comes to their desk with a brown cardboard box. Yeah, that's not gonna piss any of them off before you cut off access. At least the private sector has that one figured out.

Alexander needs to go, yesterday. He's more inept than Ballmer.

--
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
1. Re:ever hear of best practices?! by camperdave · 2013-08-09 04:11 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Alexander needs to go, yesterday. He's more inept than Ballmer.
  Hang on a second. Do we *really* want a competent person running the NSA?
  
  --
  When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
2. Re:ever hear of best practices?! by tolkienfan · 2013-08-09 04:17 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Yes?
3. Re:ever hear of best practices?! by saleenS281 · 2013-08-09 05:43 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Perhaps that's the point. They aren't actually going to fire 90%, just wanting to fish out the ones who are willing to steal classified documents at the first sign of trouble. Seems like a solid honeypot to me, just mention layoffs and then crank up the logging, sit back and find the "enemies of the state".
Re:NSA-National Storage Agency? by sexconker · 2013-08-09 04:50 · Score: 5, Funny

Can't we use FOIL to recover lost files?
(5 - a)(a + 3) = 5a + 15 - a^2 - 3a = -a^2 + 2a +15
Not seeing how I can recover lost files...