Head Of Homeland Cybersecurity Named

ziggy_zero writes "Security software industry veteran Amit Yoran is expected to be named the new head of federal cybersecurity by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday. The DHS is also partnering with CERT to form the "US-CERT" cyber-attack coordination center, coordinating efforts to fight cyber-attacks, worms, etc."

"Cyber"

[Durandal64]

Is anyone else tired of the word "cyber" being applied to anything dealing with computers? "Head of Cybersecurity" sounds like a title that some 13 year-old hax0r would call himself after finally learning how to share his family's broadband internet connection among machines. I find it difficult to take an office seriously if it designates head of "cyber" anything. It's the year 2003, people. Let's just start calling it "the internet."

I don''t know the guy, or anything about him

[SHEENmaster]

but it seems to me that bribes from Mirrosoft for "defense contracts" comprise the largest threats to national electronic security.

Let's just switch everything over to OpenBSD and pray to cueriel that we keep good relations with Canada.

good

[scrotch]

This sounds much, much better than it could have been.

I was predicting the worst...
someone with no technical background,
someone from Justice Dept,
someone corporate goon from Microsoft...

I am relieved.

Whew!

[Black Parrot]

Gods, I'm glad there's a humongous bureaucracy ready to step in and clean up the internet.

What's the plan, prosecute more teenagers and distribute their allowances between the multi-billion-dollar claimants?

they call it that because...

[Anonymous Coward]

when it comes to censoring and creating a virtual intranet to replace what we have now, it's easier to pacify moms and pops who think the 'cyber' world is something they could not possibly understand for themselves, so best leave it to the nice government to look after us...

It could be a lot worse

[OriginalGlug]

I think that choosing a software security and anti-virus expert, rather then someone with a law enforecement background is a good thing. It will hopefully keep the focus of off spying on citizens and might help reduce the number of worms going around right now.

Whither Cybersecurity?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, what, exactly, is the Department of Cybersecurity going to do? Monitor the Internet? Intercept virii? Rubberstamp Microsoft's agenda? Scan your email? Stop spam? Raid the homes of script kiddies? Side with the RIAA vs. 12-year-old girls? I really would like to know what "cybersecurity" entails.

And, fwiw, if the BSA "lauds" him, he can't be all that good news for open source.

If this man has any moral fiber and/or desire to defend privacy rights, it'll quickly be eroded under this administration.

Why am I so damned suspicious and cynical of everything this administration does? Is something wrong with me?

Re:Any results?

[EinarH]

Homeland security is a great idea, but there hasn't been much as far as actual results yet. We need some stats on how many threats they found/evaded, or is there this info available already?

This is a catch 22.

If someone ever where to make a in-depth study on wheter DHS works as intended this report would be classified and not avilable to the general public. If someone found out that DHS can't protect USA against a major terror attack DHS would not want the terrorist to know this.

So you will never know for sure if DHS works or not. That is until someone launch their major terrorist attack off course.

Re:his name sounds

[geekoid]

That would be his point.

I'm not so sure this is good

[Anonymous Coward]

Symantic is the company that wants to keep all security related info away from most of the folks in the security industry. Seems like they are more concerned with making money than security.

I'm hoping that's why he left Symantic for his new position.

Re:Whither Cybersecurity?

[BrynM]

Since we "founded" it, we tend to think it's ours (not me, but the collective "We" that is the USA) and we can tell everyone how to use it. We do the same with Democracy... since we "founded" it, we tend to try to tell everyone else how to use it. We're the know-it-all ex-mechanic down the street that could rebuild your classic Mustang, but can't even diagnose a modern one because we haven't paid much attention for the last 30 years of resting on our laurels. The new fangled parts and additions are a mystery to us.

(in a cynical mood today)