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Security United States Your Rights Online

Judge Disconnects Interior Dept., Again 246

Posted by timothy from the just-like-texas-justice dept.
jeremycec writes "Evidently, nothing's been resolved since 2001, when this happened the first time. In these Memorandum Opinion and Preliminary Injunction documents from Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., we see how the court stepped in to pull the plug on a system, which, through its abject lack of due care, left someone's important financial information wide open to attackers. According to the former CIO of the Bureau of Indian Affairs: 'For all practical purposes, we have no security, we have no infrastructure, ... Our entire network has no firewalls on it. I don't like running a network that can be breached by a high school kid.' So, when the BIA could get no relief through Interior's IT Dept., it went to the courts. Source: Government Computer News "
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Judge Disconnects Interior Dept., Again More

Judge Disconnects Interior Dept., Again

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  • It's really very simple, people; if you leave personal information about me lying around on a network which a mere script kiddie can break into, then you deserve to get sued. If you take no measures to remedy the situation, even after being repeatedly warned, and then my details get stolen and sold on, you WILL get sued. Why? To send a message. I hope this happens to more companies so that they get serious about data protection. Heck, even schools have crappy information security. I should tell you about th
    • If anything, it also reaffirms another commonly held beleif about our government:

      Anything the government does is done is incomplete or not done at all.

      It goes to show that somebody claimed to offer help there. They (govt) instead say "Lets wait for FEDERAL HELP. We cant waste money".

      Very sad.

      • Re:Good. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Pig Hogger ( 10379 ) <pig.hogger@gmail ... m minus caffeine> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @03:13PM (#6573632) Journal
        If anything, it also reaffirms another commonly held beleif about our government:
        Anything the government does is done is incomplete or not done at all.
        That's mostly due to the anglo-saxon neurosis that makes them believe that everything coming from the State is bad. This has the unfortunate effect of painting State workers (civil servants) in a bad light, assuming by default that they are incompetent.

        This has the unfortunate effect of turning the competent people away from the civil service and thus having the State seemingly make more mistakes than the private sector.

        I say "seemingly" because the private sector makes as much if not more mistakes than the public sector, but by it's own virtue of privateness, is much better apt at hiding those mistakes than the public sector which, by definition, does things publicly and thus is under the constant spotlight.

        • Re:Good. (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Kaa ( 21510 )
          That's mostly due to the anglo-saxon neurosis that makes them believe that everything coming from the State is bad. This has the unfortunate effect of painting State workers (civil servants) in a bad light, assuming by default that they are incompetent.

          The Anglo-Saxon neurosis about the state has ample historical evidence to back it up.

          It's been said that the main lesson of the XX century is the failure of governments. I would tend to agree.

          As to civil servants, I don't *assume* they are incompetent. I
          • It's been said that the main lesson of the XX century is the failure of governments. I would tend to agree.

            Most notably, the failure of governments to protect us from the failures of business.

        • Re:Good. (Score:3, Insightful)

          by EvilTwinSkippy ( 112490 )
          Coming from a long line of Civil Servents (could Polish decent we a factor?) I can say that many of the people in your government are skilled and dedicated individuals.

          The managers of those people, OTOH are another story.

        • actually, there are clear economic reasons why private enterprise *is* more competent than government: their ass is on the line.

          Governments however have a monopoly on government services, and answer only to public pressure, which is much more abstract than not getting any customers.

          The tradgedy of the commons, writ large, is another way of seeing it.

          So I'd say that not only do governments *tend* to start from a less efficient organisation than the private sector, the pressures to make them improve are al

    • No, not good. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by binaryDigit ( 557647 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:47PM (#6573395)
      So fine, the BIA is allowed to sue the DOI. But who the hell is the DOI, who funds them. Well you and I. If the IT manager of the DOI is an idiot who couldn't care less about Native Americans and their "bureau", the absolute worse thing that can happen is that that person will lose their job (and good luck with that if this person happens to be female or a minority). So what is happening here. WE get to pay for someone dropping the ball. WE get to pay the court costs for BOTH agencies. WE get to pay whatever damages are awarded. In this case lawsuits are worthless (actually worse than worthless as they have negative worth). No messages are sent and in the end the taxpayers lose, and the clients of the BIA lose.

      • Re:No, not good. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by EvilTwinSkippy ( 112490 ) <yoda@nOSpAM.etoyoc.com> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:51PM (#6573436) Homepage Journal
        Painful, true, and life in America.

        Why is it that we seem to be in a world now run by pending litigation? What ever happened to people just doing what they are paid to do!

        • Painful, true, and life in America.

          But I thought we *liked* litigation: Big Government Lawyers stepping up to the plate, knocking Microsoft into bite-size pieces, putting telemarketers out of business, crucifying spammers... Yes?

          These messy double-edged swords... so much blood, everywhere...
        • The California 1849 gold rush started as personal placer mining (with a pan or trough), but as the easy stuff was taken, it turned into corporate hydraulic mining. They built big canals and diverted lots of water to erode hills in their search for gold; the diggins near me used to be a hill 400 feet higher. They also stripped the forests to build the flumes and canals; almost all the big trees around me date from 120 years ago when you count the rings. The eroded hills washed downstream and silted up riv

      • You should know better than to believe the writeup (Score:5, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @03:11PM (#6573610)
        This is slashdot, after all.

        The BIA isn't suing anyone. They're *being* sued.

        The case is Cobell v. Norton -- the plaintiffs are Native Americans and Norton being the Interior department, of which BIA is a part. (Side note: Gail Norton has been held in contempt of court at least twice that I know of as part of this case.)

        So, what we have here, is a suit by individuals (more or less) against the Interior department.

        Yes, WE get to pay for the government's defense, and, when the government loses, the full judgement to the (fully deserving, IMHO) plaintiffs.

        Go pursue your anti-governemnt, anti-PC campaign elsewhere: it isn't relevant here.

        Lawsuits aren't worthless here, they're pretty much the only lever the endlessly screwed-over Native Americans have against the interior depatment. I'm happy to see them succeeding at it.

        • But the sad point is thet even if the BIA wins, they still won't get secure netowrks or good infrastructure out of this.

          So they're not really succeeding, unless is the verdict is for the Interior Department to pay for whoever the BIA wants to hire from the outside to come in and do the job right.

    • Re:Good. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by hpavc ( 129350 )
      This has nothing to do with security. Sadly its merely a ploy/device to slow/stop payment of funds.

  • This is why.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Creepy Crawler ( 680178 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:41PM (#6573327)
    Our government is incapible of becoming like Orwell's 1984. They cant even keep their system straight.

    And also, what's a government office doing on the internet? Shouldnt there be a Web machine (dmz) and a firewall for interal access (if they need it)? That doesnt cost more than a 1000$.

    • Democracy In Action (Score:2, Interesting)

      by tds67 ( 670584 )
      Our government is incapible of becoming like Orwell's 1984. They cant even keep their system straight.

      Now everyone gets to know your business if the government does. How egalitarian! Big Brothers are watching you!

    • Re:This is why.. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by TopShelf ( 92521 ) * on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:53PM (#6573453) Homepage Journal
      A similarly incompetent information regime already exists today - the credit reporting agencies. Considering how much private information they store, and how pervasively it's used, I'm amazed at how poor the data quality is. Basically they pushed the data integrity issue off to the consumer, who usually discovers the problem only after getting turned down for a loan....

      • Re:This is why.. (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward
        A similarly incompetent information regime already exists today - the credit reporting agencies. Considering how much private information they store, and how pervasively it's used, I'm amazed at how poor the data quality is. Basically they pushed the data integrity issue off to the consumer, who usually discovers the problem only after getting turned down for a loan....

        Since I used to work in the industry, I can say that there are much deeper reasons for the pervasive data integrity problems in credit r

    • Re:This is why.. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by prgrmr ( 568806 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:57PM (#6573496) Journal
      Our government is incapible of becoming like Orwell's 1984. They cant even keep their system straight

      It will be much more like Brazil, with papers and people lost within a system more concerned about avoiding responsibility for screw-ups than actually doing anything productive or benefitial.

    • Re:This is why.. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Frymaster ( 171343 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @03:02PM (#6573542) Homepage Journal
      Our government is incapible of becoming like Orwell's 1984. They cant even keep their system straight.

      whoa. that's a big leap. just because the gov't does a lousy job funding the bia does not mean it is not capable and willing of building surveillence state!

      here's the real message: the government does a good job on stuff it cares about. they care about homeland security... so it gets funded out the wazoo and real talent is brought in to work on it. the bia gets the sort end of the stick because the gov't doesn't care about native americans. they're not "sexy" like homeland security. besides, we already got all their land.

      • I second that.

        Though I do disagree. Just because the government throws money at a problem does not instantly make it a success. Look at the Strategic Defense Initiative. How many Billions of dollars did We The People sink into a system that never worked. Scratch that, are STILL sinking into a system that HAS never worked.

        Spend half that on a standing army, you would employ a lot more people. Spend a quarter of that on schools and you wouldn't have to.

      • Ummm no, sorry, you're wrong. The governemnt isn't funding homeland security. Actually they're underfunding homeland security. This pathetic administration only funds items that are politically expedient. For example: they wanted to slash the air marshall program due to budget considerations. Here's the meat of it. The threat comes just as the federal government has started to trim the nation's new airport security agency, by cutting the number of security screeners and other resources. Just one day before [washingtonpost.com]

      • Re:This is why.. (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Mr. Piddle ( 567882 )
        just because the gov't does a lousy job funding the bia does not mean it is not capable and willing of building surveillence state!

        Not only that, but imagine how wonderful a surveillence state run by our current government would be! There will be bookkeeping errors, data-entry errors, politicially-motivated errors, and data forged by organized crime. I can't wait for the TIA database to be admittable in court! I really hope Fox or TNN picks up the live coverage! It'll be a blast!
        • I can't wait for the TIA database to be admittable in court!

          That's assuming that actual justice is meted out in court. Methinks the innocents are much more likely to be made into scapegoats with no hope for redress.

          The problem isn't really with competent surveillence. It's with incompetent surveillence where the surveillers have convinced themselves that they are competent and that the system can't be wrong.
    • "Our government is incapible of becoming like Orwell's 1984"

      Nope, too many diaries [weblogs.com]

      too many non-state newspapers [ovmj.org]

  • BIA IT DEPT DOA (Score:4, Informative)

    by theblackdeer ( 453464 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:42PM (#6573339) Homepage
    it's true .... my mother in-law works at the BIA, and hasn't had email for years. i've offered to do real cheap contracting to help them set up a small, secure network in their regional office, to no avail. they were still waiting for the gov IT dept to work it out.

    • Re:BIA IT DEPT DOA (Score:5, Interesting)

      by EvilTwinSkippy ( 112490 ) <yoda@nOSpAM.etoyoc.com> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @03:06PM (#6573569) Homepage Journal
      it's true .... my mother in-law works at the BIA, and hasn't had email for years. i've offered to do real cheap contracting to help them set up a small, secure network in their regional office, to no avail. they were still waiting for the gov IT dept to work it out.

      At my office I would up as network admin after a power struggle involving a guy who refused to do much of anything. Systems were so locked down they were useless. A tiny fraction of the building had email, fewer of those actually had the password.

      New network drops? Forget it. Hell, the fund-raising department had its own domain and a dialup line to access email. 2 departments ran their own networks. I was first brought in to try to get them on the Internet, but as soon as folks saw that there was no need for any of the hoop jumping ...

      ... Well, lets just say that person doesn't work here anymore.

  • Hey! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Sir Haxalot ( 693401 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:42PM (#6573349)
    They should try one of those motherboards with fancy IDE encryption, that'll keep their data safe!

  • Are there standards? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by KlomDark ( 6370 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:43PM (#6573355) Homepage Journal
    I know the feds have lots of standards (And pretty well thought-out) for bank-related IT security.

    Don't they have some similar standards for government standards, or are all different federal entities left to simply come up (or not come up) with their own standards?
    • My take on the articles and multitude of links that the real issue is why is the BIA being habitually screwed when it comes to IT funding? I guess the department isn't "politically sexy enough".

      • Re:Are there standards? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Otter ( 3800 )
        Like someone else said, having the BIA in the Department of the Interior is an anachronism. When there were no national parks, no environmental laws and Idaho and Oregon were Indian Territory the BIA was prominent within the department. Today, Interior is about the park system, endangered species and toxic dumps, and dealing with a bunch of sem-sovereign nations within the US, with complicated treaties and laws that differ from tribe to tribe, is an afterthought. Especially since the class of people who run

    • Re:Are there standards? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Xzzy ( 111297 )
      > are all different federal entities left to simply
      > come up (or not come up) with their own standards?

      I can only speak for the one I work for, but from what I can tell, the answer is yes. The branch I'm involved in seems to revolve mostly around scanning any net-connected machine for known vulnerabilities and generating scary warnings if a problem is found.

      Most of our security is dictated by the site-local security team which is thankfully pretty darn good, because the probe and hope model is fearf
    • Andrew Tenenbaum said it best:

      The great thing about standards is having so many to choose from!

      I don't doubt that there are standards. Odds are the are contradictory, self serving to whoever crafted them, and devoid of any technical merit. Come on, these people are the biggest purchaser of Microsoft products for crying out loud. For what they spend they could write their own damn system, maintain it ad-infinitum.

  • Which link contains the story of interest? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It's often a good idea to make it plain which link is the main focus, rather than the background information. It would make sense for the main story to be linked to "the court stepped in to pull the plug on a system", but I suppose we'll have to be left wondering.

    On the bright side, at least this one wasn't archived.
  • Well sounds like someone told someone a Buzzword. If there was NO infrastructure, there wouldn't be a problem. The problem is the infrastructure they DO have. BTW is the dept. of Indian affairs there to keep secret the horrors the Indian people had to suffer under the Imperialist conquerer's the early Americans were? Ooops just let the secret out, you can keep the firewall budget for the lawsuits.

  • Wow... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Eric_Cartman_South_P ( 594330 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:47PM (#6573390)
    "For all practical purposes, we have no security, we have no infrastructure, . . . . Our entire network has no firewalls on it.

    So, what's your IP? WoOt!

  • Beyond Lazy (Score:5, Interesting)

    by EvilTwinSkippy ( 112490 ) <yoda@nOSpAM.etoyoc.com> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:48PM (#6573402) Homepage Journal
    Someone has to be willfully not complying. Hell a firewall is as simple as picking up a $40 router at the local Staples. The instructions are printed in bright colors on droolproof paper.

    There has to be a lot more to this story. Low priority is one thing. This is right up there with willfully not breathing, or willfully not locking a door.

  • Try a secure OS (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:49PM (#6573410)
    They should run on FreeLeonardPeltierBSD.

    • Mod Parent up! (Score:4, Interesting)

      by evenprime ( 324363 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @03:12PM (#6573622) Homepage Journal
      This is the funniest joke I've seen on slashdot in quite a while. Of course, most /.'ers probably are not familiar with this [freepeltier.org]
      very controversial case.

      • Re:Mod Parent up! (Score:2, Informative)

        by Wyatt Earp ( 1029 )
        Since we have a link to Free Peltier, here is a link to the No Parole Peltier Association.

        http://www.noparolepeltier.com/
        http://www.nop a rolepeltier.com/shootout.html

        Two FBI agents went down to Pine Ridge to arrest someone. The agents end up in a cross-fire between two houses. Two FBI agents end up dead, thier cars were hit 125 times with .223 rounds from an AR. 114 .223 shell casings were found, 39 of which matched Peltier's AR-15.

        The agents were wounded initially, then executed with point-blank shots

  • I find it simply amazing that... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dook43 ( 660162 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:51PM (#6573431)
    in this day and age, when government spending along with jobless rates are at an all time high, there are government agencies that either don't have or have a badly staffed IT department. Judging from slashdot readership alone, there are many out-of-work geeks that could shore up gov't IT security for next to nothing. Even if it's an all Windows network, it can still be secured for relatively cheap....just hire a kiddie, pay him 30K/year to maintain Microsoft's Software Update Services to automatically download and install critical updates. You certainly don't need MCSE for that!
    • jobless rates are at an all time high

      I don't think so, o ye of short memory. Check here [economagic.com] and you'll see that things have been much worse just in the last 30 years.

    • Why pay .... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Ex-MislTech ( 557759 )
      They can get interns to do it for free .

      If they cannot get an Intern they can import someone
      from overseas give them a L1 visa and pay them
      minimum wage .

      Hell Tatia consulting specializes in unempolying ppl in the US ,
      they are one of the best cheap foreign labor sweatshops in the US .

      Why hire americans, when you can get ppl for next to nothing !!

      Go corporate corruption !

      ( sarcasm ended )

      Asking the government why they do something stupid year end
      and year out is like asking why the CEO of a major failing
      c

  • It's politics, nothing more. (Score:5, Informative)

    by RatBastard ( 949 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @02:52PM (#6573449) Homepage
    The simple fact is that the Department of The Interior hates the BIA. They resent them like hell and are doing nothing to help them at all. Standards, routers, etc... have nothing to do with this.

    It's high time that the BIA be moved from Interior to the Department of State anyway. The American-Indiands issue isn't a land issue, it's a deplomacy issue. But that's just more politics and not relevant to the story at hand.

    • Re:It's politics, nothing more. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by pongo000 ( 97357 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @03:52PM (#6573943)
      After traveling through the Jemez Pueblo [cinprograms.org] reservation this summer, and observing first-hand the deplorable conditions they live in, I'm deeply ashamed at the way the government is treating the true founders of this country. The government treats the Native Americans as a public attraction, a curiosity like the rest of the projects the DOI oversees.

      But rest assured, the BIA will never be moved to State under the current administration. Why? Too much of an embarrassment. Very few Americans have seen first-hand how the government treats the Indian tribes, how they foster the rampant crime, poverty, and social ills that plague many reservations. Why would the current administration want to draw attention to their disregard for human decency? Plus, putting the BIA under State would give many Indian tribes the standing they need to pursue their claims against the government for unlawful seizure of their lands. Can you imagine resolving a dispute such as this [chron.com] by returning all 520,000 acres of privately-owned land to their rightful owners, the Kiowa and the Comanche?

      Of course you can't. Neither can the government.

      • Traveling by someone's home does not always tell the correct story when you are trying to determine means rather than will. Some do not have the means to live in a nice environment and some simply choose to use their resources in a different way. The only tribe I know much about has members that *could* be living a different lifestyle if they chose to...
    • Another factor: Most Republicans hate the DOI. Remember James Watt? So DOI is just about last in the queue when it comes to fighting for budget dollars. Can you name one division of the DOI that has enough money to do its job? Certainly not the National Park Service or the BoIA. It wouldn't surprise me if their procurement processes result in $40 routers costing $4,000, so the budget crunch is even worse.
  • "Stop asking questions about that! What are you, a terrorist? I think you should be indefinitely detained."

    I feel safer. And the chocolate rations have been increased to 5 units.

  • BIA Corruption coverup (Score:5, Insightful)

    by spun ( 1352 ) <loverevolutionary&yahoo,com> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @03:01PM (#6573530) Journal
    The BIA has been hopelesly corrupt for years, squandering monies that were meant for Native Americans and padding their own pockets. They don't want this system fixed, as fixing it would also uncover their embezlement. They also want a convenient scapegoat: "Hackers took the money!"
  • The BIA is mostly a human services organization, historically a realm of Democrats. The current administration is Republican. This is the adult version of kids pulling the wings off of flies, or focusing a magnifying glass on an anthill, for the sole pleasure of watching the chaos and the misery.

    I'm sure someone will question my use of the term "adult"....
    • the best way to service the humans covered by the BIA is to explain that they're being compassionate as they bend the clientele over, grab the Crisco and ...
      You get the picture.
    • The flaw with this argument is that the problem with the network been going on for a very long time and started during the Clinton administration. Had it been funded from the beginning, there wouldn't be this problem in the first place.

    • Re:No wonder (Score:5, Informative)

      by deanj ( 519759 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @03:46PM (#6573887)
      The other flaw with this is the following:

      "The preliminary injunction followed a hearing this morning in which the plaintiffs in the Cobell v. Norton litigation, who represent American Indian trust beneficiaries, sought the injunction. The goal of the injunction is to protect American Indian trust accounts from intrusion via the Internet. "

      The American Indians requested that the injunction be put into place, and it was granted.

      This has nothing to do with what administration is in power.
      • If this has nothing to do with which administration is in power, then why did your first rebuttal fix blame on the Clinton administration? And who cares who sought the injunctive relief; the fact is that the BIA is blaming this on underfunding.
        • Because the lack of initial funding started in the Clinton administration.

          In any event, it had nothing to do with Bush, no matter what the initial poster said. It's just another lie.

          • Because the lack of initial funding started in the Clinton administration.

            In any event, it had nothing to do with Bush, no matter what the initial poster said. It's just another lie.

            The court case being reported on was filed during the Clinton administration, but the malfeasance it addresses goes back much further.

            There was a great deal of theft, embezzlement, and fraud [dickshovel.com] that occurred in the BIA during the Reagan administration. The accounting system was a mess, and Reagan gutted the Special Council o

  • I heard this on NPR -- One question (Score:3, Funny)

    by JUSTONEMORELATTE ( 584508 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @03:19PM (#6573657) Homepage
    I heard this on NPR (about 2 weeks ago, sheesh!) and all I could think was "I wonder how long until someone posts the google cache link."

    No, my sig isn't that link.

    --

  • Can somebody explain to me... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @03:20PM (#6573669)
    ...what the hell this article is about?
    Bureau of Indian Affairs - are these the people responsible for outsourcing IT jobs to India?
    • Bureau of Indian Affairs - are these the people responsible for outsourcing IT jobs to India?

      Ahh, Slashdot. Home of anonymous cowards who know lots about corrupt bureaucrats and nothing about anything else.

      Two seconds at Google turned up this informational URL [nbc.gov]. Go learn something about your government that's actually true.

  • This is actually a dick swinging contest (Score:5, Informative)

    by MemRaven ( 39601 ) <(moc.eilywkrik) (ta) (krik)> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @04:05PM (#6574089)
    Rather than everybody babbling about crap based on the original case, I read the memorandum document. Basically, the status here is:
    • The government agreed to secure machines that had certain types of sensitive information, and to allow someone to verify that those machines were secure.
    • One machine was discovered to be insecure because apparently it WAS in the DMZ for a legitimate use and thus could be portscanned (it was just insecure)
    • The people scanning it told the gov't that they were going to do a full penetration scan (so that they didn't get prosecuted), which everybody had agreed to and agreed would be private (i.e. nobody would try to secure the box in advance of the penetration)
    • The machine magically vanished off the network right before the penetration scan with a bit of a bogus explaination
    • The government and the guy responsible for doing the scans got into a big pissing contest that they refused to settle peacefully.
    In other words, it seems like some parts of the government was attempting to do the right thing here, but some other parts got seriously upset when they discovered that the Special Master (the guy responsible for verifying compliance that the machines were actually secure) was actually doing his job and not just taking their word that they hadn't leaked information about the machine that was going to be penetrated, fearing the consequences.

    Quite frankly, I'm a little confused as to why the government had to allow a full exploit to take place rather than accepting the warning of "this machine is insecure, secure it now," except that maybe it's with an eye towards preparing for the day when the courts aren't constantly portscanning them.


    • Just great, they leave IT in the hands of our judgicial department. No wonder things are so F'ed up.

      I wonder what would happen if they actually made politicies that demanded some sort of security QA test before putting any new hardware on the network.
      • Well, that's sorta the point from what I can tell from the memorandum: the judge originally ordered that hte entire network, essentially, be disconnected from the internet, and only reconnected as the DoI could prove that each machine that was connected had a reasonable level of security. Then the Special Master (the guy doing the checkup) had to make sure that the machine stayed secure over time. The Special Master basically handled a lot of the politicing with the other Big Government Dicks from the vario
    • > the Special Master

      Now theres a job title to aspire to!

  • Is that the government is deliberately foot-dragging on all kinds of BIA infrastructure, hoping to delay the time of reckoning, when it will be made clear that the BIA mismanaged the lands entrusted to them, particularly with regard to oil royalties.

    IIRC, Gale Norton, the Secy of the Interior, had gotten subpoened, held in contempt, etc.

    This IT snafu is just a small part of an overall larger mess that each Cabinet level Interior Secy is hoping to delay Until the Next Administration's Watch.

    • This IT snafu is just a small part of an overall larger mess that each Cabinet level Interior Secy is hoping to delay Until the Next Administration's Watch.

      This is exactly what is going on, so everyone claiming Democrats or Republicans are to blame, wake up. The US has been screwing over Natives and covering it up since before there even were Democrats or Republicans. It's really one of those "public secrets" that anyone who knows anything about Native American affairs knows all about.

      It really has ve

  • High school kid? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cornice ( 9801 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @04:24PM (#6574287)
    I don't like running a network that can be breached by a high school kid.

    I think this statement underestimates the experience, intelect and time that some high school kids have. I have seen countless posts to Slashdot either by people in high school or by people who were doing great things by the time they were in high school. This statement means nothing and somewhat indicates the lack of understanding that the general public has about hackers and crackers.

  • Get the facts -- and the whole story online (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Get the facts and the whole sad story online at www.indiantrust.com

    You will discover that the real issue is the US Gov. stonewalling and resisting the lawsuit giving rise to this judical order.

    At stake is the US Gov losing it's trusteeship over all the money it collects from such things as rental/timber/mining/mineral/other rights earned and payable to individual indians. Seems there may be TRILLIONS of dollars "unaccounted for" over the decades the US Gov has been "taking care of" the indians.

    The IT sy

  • The real story behind this (Score:4, Informative)

    by Shoten ( 260439 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @08:36PM (#6576352)
    In a nutshell, the Special Master for the court has brought in an outside consultant to do pen-testing of DOI systems. The problem is that this guy is just hacking away willy-nilly, and there are no rules of engagement or lines of communication. In short, there's no way for DOI to know this guy's attacks apart from those of any black-hat, and there's no way to prevent him from doing more harm than good (or notifying DOI should he screw something up, as is prone to happen in pen-testing). SAIC, the company working to improve DOI security, has asked for some changes to this, and was turned down. As a result, the DoJ has intervened, pointing out that what the consultant has been doing is not legal and is actually hacking in the very illegal sense of the word. This is the backlash from the Special Master in return for that.

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