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United States Government Security Politics

DHS Forms New Cyber Hub To Protect Critical US Infrastructure (wsj.com) 57

The Department of Homeland Security announced on Tuesday the creation of a new center aimed at guarding the nation's banks, energy companies and other industries from major cyberattacks that could cripple critical infrastructure. From a report: The launch of the National Risk Management Center was unveiled by DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at a government-hosted cyber summit in New York City, at which Vice President Mike Pence and several other cabinet secretaries are expected to speak. In prepared remarks, Ms. Nielsen said that cyber threats now posed a greater threat to the country than physical attacks. DHS was founded 15 years ago to prevent another Sept. 11, 2001, Ms. Nielsen said, but "today I believe the next major attack is more likely to reach us online than on an airplane." The center's creation was motivated by a growing recognition in government that sophisticated cyberattacks, particularly those deployed by foreign adversaries, can not only harm a company or industry but can cause systemic failure across society, Chris Krebs, DHS's top cyber official, said in an interview.
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DHS Forms New Cyber Hub To Protect Critical US Infrastructure

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  • by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @03:08PM (#57043998)

    There's the word "cyber" in the name of their unit, that means they're good!

    • only the Commander-in-Chief has the power to create a new branch [wikimedia.org] of the military.

      In this case, my .sig is not applicable.
      • by gtall ( 79522 )

        Yeah, he's already creating one...something to do with space...I think they are calling it Guardians of the Galaxy. It will prevent aliens from coming here and mating with us...which is a bit wrong-headed...green alien women!! Oh, the forbidden pleasure.

        They are doing the experiments now that will give us talking raccoons.

    • There's the word "cyber" in the name of their unit, that means they're good!

      I must be missing something ... What part of "U.S. Department of of Homeland Security (DHS)" or "National Risk Management Center" has the "cyber" in the title?

      • .. I must be missing something

        Nevermind. I guess the legislation for "DHS Cyber Incident Response Teams Act of 2018".could be interpreted as the name Congress wants on the group. I don't think the non-profit "Cyber Threat Alliance" counts.

        .. DHS will conduct a number of 90-day “sprints”...

        Hey! They're Agile too. Buzzworld City.

    • However, the letters DHS suggest the opposite
    • by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Think of the cyber skills.
      Discovering the ISP and the IP.
      To follow that modem down to a users desktop computer using an ip.
      As every bad person sits in front of their home computer. With an ip just from that account from their isp.
  • For those interested, it will be housed at Arlington, Virginia.
  • Cyber attack (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Oswald McWeany ( 2428506 ) on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @03:18PM (#57044088)

    The most costly "terrorist" attack on the US this century will probably be a cyber attack.

    The most lives and injuries will almost certainly be of a more conventional nature.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Please link to a relevant news source that doesn't use paywalls. Thank you.

  • I thought it said To Protect Criminal US Infrastructure.
  • Remember the Vault7 exploits that allow the CIA to hack people while making it look like it was Russians? Remember when the CIA claimed Russian hacking due to finding "Russian" malware on infected systems? From Vault 7: CIA can customize the "fingerprints" hacks leave behind and make it look like someone else did it. [wikileaks.org] No, this is not some crazy conspiracy theory nonsense just because I said "CIA". This is for real.

    Now, because the tools that the CIA developed to put a Russian fingerprint on any hack wer

  • How's the pay? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Rob Riggs ( 6418 ) on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @03:29PM (#57044186) Homepage Journal
    Are they going to pay worth a damn for talent, or stick with the current GS pay scale?
    • by zlives ( 2009072 ) on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @03:44PM (#57044306)

      i think the plan is to shift over paid TSA agents to this new venture.

      • by gtall ( 79522 )

        Nonsense, it is merely a misdirection play, much like the old Notre Dame teams under Ara Parseghian where some of the line and backfield are moving one way while the rest and the ball are moving the other. This is merely so they can point at some organization to claim they are countering the threat. That the new organization do anything is beside the point, and it won't because there isn't any money involved that won't go to the companies that help cause the problem in the first place.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      DHS has been authorized to pay a 25% premium over the standard GS schedule for cyber related talent. I wouldn't expect it to be any different at this new site.

  • Single point of failure! :-)
  • by qzzpjs ( 1224510 ) on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @03:41PM (#57044270)

    The plot to a Die Hard movie? One center with a copy of all the important data for the bad guys to break into?

  • Take off you shoes and lets us feel you up FOR SECURITY REASONS.

  • by manu0601 ( 2221348 ) on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @07:12PM (#57045586)

    What will be the role of this cyber hub? How is it going to push banks and utilities to update unmaintained systems?

    The only thing I believe to be useful here would be economical incentive. That is, big fine and corporate leaders legal liability for security incidents.

  • At least 3 federal agencies (NSA/CIA/FBI) have long lists of vulnerabilities to break into systems. Who wants to bet they'll share any info with this new agency?
    • by Agripa ( 139780 )

      At least 3 federal agencies (NSA/CIA/FBI) have long lists of vulnerabilities to break into systems. Who wants to bet they'll share any info with this new agency?

      Going by how the NSA operates, they will create new vulnerabilities for the new agency to spread for them.

  • The Department of Homeland Security announced on Tuesday the creation of a new center aimed at guarding the nation's banks, energy companies and other industries from major cyberattacks that could cripple critical infrastructure.”

    How about they not run their critical infrastructure on Microsoft Windows directly connected to the Internet.
  • I see banks, energy companies and other industries" but no mention of voting infrastructure, the only one that has actually been attacked already.

  • I think we've seen from this administrations complete undermining of basic security protections (including scoffing at clearances, removing cybersecurity from the national security council and refusing to investigate hacking claims in the 2016 election) that they are not trustworthy when it comes to cybersecurity. Fact is we've seen evidence that Foreign Cyberware units are infiltrating critical infrastructure. Without trust in our own government, this amounts to grandstanding and deniability when that
  • The National Communications System, which was part of DISA in the late 1990's, along with the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), proposed this way back then. The NCS is now part of DHS. Whatever happened to that 20 year old proposal and similar ones since that this has still not been established?
  • DHS was founded 15 years ago to prevent another Sept. 11, 2001, ...

    According to my calendar, there hasn't been a single Sept 11, 2001 since the DHS was founded. Heck of a job, guys!

They are called computers simply because computation is the only significant job that has so far been given to them.

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