Panel urges Obama to consider "hacker response plan"

[woolldog]

FYI....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081208/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_hackers_1;_ylt=AlkNfLKbJlSnCjzLo.0r9mEb.3QA

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama should create a new White House office to protect cyberspace from hackers, thieves and foreign agents, coordinating security efforts across U.S. military, intelligence and civilian agencies, according to a new report from a panel of leading government and industry experts.

The report, expected to be made public Monday on Capitol Hill, also urges Obama's new administration and Congress to pass new laws to allow for speedier investigations — and in some cases quicker retaliation once intruders are identified. It proposed online "data warrants," for example, rather than traditional search warrants, which it said "may be increasingly impracticable in the online environment."

Chances are good Obama will be receptive to many of the proposals: At least five members of the panel that produced the report also are working for his presidential transition team. They include former White House official Paul Kurtz, advising Obama on national security matters, and Obama technology advisers Dan Chenok and Bruce McConnell.

"Responding to a cyber attack is a tough issue," said James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think-tank that organized the commission. "Do operators respond with law enforcement, espionage or military actions? The guidelines are really unclear. The rules designed in the 1980s are slow, and the Internet is fast."

[BzaDem]

1. Considering the serious security breach into the campaign's computer network

I think Obama will be receptive to this.

[boppers]

2. The hard part is protecting data, and finding the source.

It's totally easy for me to pull logs, and have search warrants served to 100's of places.

It's hard once you realize that "attackers" are controlling zombie machines, with lots of misdirection over the internet. You don't want to haul a 67-year old woman into questioning for the "crime" of reading an email about flowers... that turned her computer into a machine launching attacks on the DoD.

[boppers]

3. Oh, and FWIW:

The teams (made of hackers) that respond to attacks (by hackers) have a 24 hour (or less) response time.

It's super-high-action, high-stress, work.

The *procedural* plan may be hazy, but the immediate response plan is not.