Frustrated Cybersecurity Chief Calls It Quits

WCBS880 ^

[Starwolf]

$80M is peanuts in government terms. Its the equivalent of 320 full time people at best. Its not near enough to be effective.

There is also the political angle. If the government were to really enforce or mandate some levels of computer security starting in house, would lose almost all of its Gov business, and that would not be allowed to happen quietly.

[eno_]

I can: Zero.

Can you not figure out that Homelame "Security" is a put-on show for the sheeple?

[The_Victor]

You may be right about replacing him with no effect but I would point out that throwing wads of cash at a problem does not mean it is being effectively addressed.

In which case, the money is there, and the problem presumably still exists, so it may be better that he's gone.

[Publius6961]

Which Mitnick book? Got a title? publication date? Has he written only one?

[VOA]

Amit Yoran, a former software executive from Symantec Corp.,

Hmmm, out here in the Southern California area, the two tech-guru radio shows
have been saying nasty things about Norton (owned by Symantec?) anti-virus/security
software.

I wonder if this resignation wasn't also a "and don't let the door hit you" affair?


At the same time, I wouldn't be shocked if this fellow wasn't frustrated by
politicians and government workers (or all political stripes) bristling
about intrusion of security measures...

[The_Victor]

$80M is peanuts in government terms. Its the equivalent of 320 full time people at best. Its not near enough to be effective.

There is also the political angle. If the government were to really enforce or mandate some levels of computer security starting in house, would lose almost all of its Gov business, and that would not be allowed to happen quietly.

$80 mil is plenty. All his department has to do is identify problems. Companies and government agencies that run computer networks will pay out of their own budgets to fix problems that he identifies. There is more to this story than we are being told in this article.

[eno_]

The Art of Deception

[The_Victor]

You can't figure out why the resignation of the US Head of Cyberterrorism will affect our country's cyberterrorism battle?

His resignation won't effect diddle squat!

Name one thing he's done to fix the nation's electric grid....

Name me one thing he's done at all....

All I'm saying is he's not irreplaceable. Everybody is reacting with panic as if Alan Greenspan just keeled over (I'll save that debate for another day). He's a mid level manager in the Homeland Security Dept, three levels under Tom Ridge. This guy was Richard Clark's replacement for heaven's sake. Anyone with a penchant for organization, a decent head for controlling a budget, and a working knowledge of computer networks could do his job.

[quant5]

He is no different then most I.T. developers who get frustrated and quit with no notice, leaving their employers to twist in the wind. I run an I.T. business and have a VERY hard time finding people who are capable but yet understand timing and my deadlines in relations to serving clients. I get lots of "yeah it's almost done" to finding out a project was barely even started. Most coders have a very specific way of doing things and are very independant group of people. We wonder why our I.T. is going offshore to China and India?

[LTCJ]

OK, time for my WAG-o-the-Day:

He wrote a report listing the financial cost of securing all government-owned Windows installations.

Duck and cover ...

[stainlessbanner]

"Takedown" was ok - it was about him, not by him. I'll have to check out Art of Dec.

[notforhire]

You got that right!

sKerry will make much hay with this.