Safety Last

The title of the April 9th Computerworld article was interesting: "DHS chief says feds need help to defend Internet against cyberattacks". Given this administration's track record when it come to power grabs, I expected this to be a sales job for Chertoff to claim even more authority.

Looks like I was wrong. Chertoff acknowledges that "[t]here is no question that one of the threats that continues to materialize again and again is the threat to our virtual world of cyberspace," and that a successful attack could have a world-wide "cascading effect". He just doesn't think government can do much about it. Check out this quote:

But defending cyberspace is different from protecting buildings and other physical targets, Chertoff said. The federal government doesn't own the Internet or much of the technical infrastructure on which it runs, he noted. As a result, he declared, it's the shared responsibility of the government and the private sector to guard against cyberattacks.

"We're operating in a domain where traditional military power or the power of government is insufficient to address the full nature of the threat," Chertoff said. "We need to have a networked response to deal with a networked attack."

Translation: "I need to make it look like I'm doing something but I don't want to force the administration's corporate cronies to do anything that would cost them money, so regulation is right out of the question."

Note that this is the same Michael Chertoff who, according to the April 8th New York Times, declares that he has the power to unilaterally invalidate dozens of laws in order to build a fence at the Mexican border (a boondoggle if ever there was one, but that’s another rant). Why not use this same constitutionally suspect dictatorial power to force corporations to secure their network? After all, declaring itself above the law is SOP for this lot.

The answer, of course, is that doing so would annoy the corporations that call the shots in this administration.  They're perfectly happy to have Chertoff sweep away environmental laws that get in the way of the holy pursuit of a fast buck.  Telling them to spend money on security, on the other hand, would be a quick way to an early retirement so he could "spend more time with his family".

Meanwhile, as reported on the very same day at news.com, security experts have demonstrated that gaining control of the systems at a power station via social engineering and malware is a no brainer.  Don't hold your breath waiting for Chertoff to force the power industry to clean up its act. See above.