[infowar.de] USA: "Cybersicherheit ist der Kern der Heimatverteidigung"

[Ralf Bendrath <bendrath -! - zedat - fu-berlin - de>]

Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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Hallo, 

es will mir ja nicht so ganz in den Kopf: Da werden Flugzeuge mit
Teppichmessern entführt, und aus dem daraus folgenden Inferno folgert
man, dass man sich vor allem um die Abwehr von Hackern kümmern muss. Ist
das die Wahrnehmungsverzerrung einer IT-Fachzeitschrift oder der Chor
möglicher Kriegsgewinnler aus der IT-Sicherheit, oder hat sich der
"Cyberterrorismus" schon so im Diskurs eingeprägt, dass er unempfindlich
gegen Irritationen wird?

Fragt sich

Ralf

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1001/news-cyber-10-01-01.asp

Cybersecurity called key to homeland defense

Diane Frank 
Federal Computerweek, 1.10.2001

As the Office of Homeland Security takes shape, federal and
private-sector technology experts are urging the Bush administration
to ensure that cybersecurity is included.

President Bush created the office last month in response to the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks and named Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge as its
head. The Cabinet-level office will coordinate, not replace, the many
federal, state and local agencies involved in protecting the nation
against terrorist attacks, officials said.

"The key here, when it comes to homeland defense, is to have one very
effective person at the pinnacle of it who can help co.ordinate it,"
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said last month.

The administration is still determining the office's exact structure,
including staffing and funding, Fleischer said. Several bills are
moving through Congress to better define the office.

But while much of the reaction to the terrorist attacks has focused on
physical security, such as airport and building security, information
technology and cybersecurity also must be included, experts said.

"It is likely that a separate strategy will be needed to ensure that
critical computer systems are also protected," Joel Willemssen,
managing director of IT issues at the General Accounting Office,
testified at a hearing last month. "However, it will be essential to
link the government's strategy for combating computer-based attacks to
the national strategy for combating terrorism."

White House officials have been reviewing the national plan for
protecting the country's critical infrastructures, including the
telecommunications sector, since January. Now, officials are
discussing how that strategy will relate to the Office of Homeland
Security, Willemssen said.

The government's lead agency for responding to cyberattacks, the
National Infrastructure Protection Center, is helping the
investigation. The NIPC also offers vital support to the new office
because it coordinates protection and response across different
entities, NIPC Director Ronald Dick said.

The coordination between physical and cyber protection is essential as
agencies consider what could have happened if the "Nimda" worm, which
spread rapidly to affect the Internet, had hit Sept. 11 instead of a
week later, experts said.

Intelligence and information sharing among agencies, as well as quick
dissemination of information via the Internet, will be crucial to the
office's success, said Mark DeMier, deputy director for operations at
the Anser Institute for Homeland Security.

"It's going to be essential [because] after the attacks, the Internet
was the most reliable way to communicate," he said.

Both high- and low-grade technology will play important roles in
helping the new security office do its job, DeMier noted. Everything
from facial recognition to air-purification masks should be used, he
said.

The Homeland Security Office's effectiveness will depend on Congress'
willingness to give agencies adequate resources for any new
responsibilities to support the office, said Michael Vatis, director
of the Dartmouth College Institute of Security Technology Studies and
former NIPC director. One reason why critical information systems lack
adequate security is that many agencies are required to secure the
systems without being given the funds to do so, he said.

Dan Caterinicchia contributed to this article.

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