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Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA Listmaster

NRT-0635 Homeland Security seeks cyber counterattack system:

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff on 3 October said he would like to see a government computer infrastructure that could look for early indications of malicious computer activity and stop it before it happens, according to an online press report. The system ‑ referred to as 'Einstein 3.0' ‑ "would literally, [be] like an anti‑aircraft weapon, shoot down an attack before it hits its target," he was quoted as saying. At a meeting with reporters to highlight National Cyber Security Month, Chertoff reiterated his belief that the government should aggressively defend its computer systems, saying that terrorists, if they gain expertise already available to others, would "cause potentially very serious havoc" to government systems.

The "most immediate component" of the President's National Cyber Security Initiative from DHS' perspective, said Chertoff, is to increase security for federal government computer systems. However, he added, "We are deliberately going slowly because we recognize that the issue of government involvement in the Internet is fraught with all kinds of potential concerns and potential anxieties about not having the government have a big‑foot impact on an area of communication and commerce that has traditionally been viewed as really independent and free."

(www.wibc.com. 04OCT08)

Last Modified: Sunday, 16-Nov-2008 09:23:24 EST