DOD mulls Internet disconnect (Re: The future of NAPs and IXPs)

Mon Apr 19 22:21:29 UTC 1999

On Mon, Apr 19, 1999 at 04:18:12PM -0500, Sean Donelan wrote:
> >It's worth pointing out, as a sidebar to that, that the greater the
> >dependence on interconnection, the more hardened it's _feasible_ to make
> >that interconnection environment, assuming you've rolled your numbers
> >right.  Staying on the proper side of that curve is important...
> 
> Don't fall into the trap of thinking you can harden anything enough.  The
> Internet was built on the assumption diversity buys reliability better than
> hardening.  To this day, it seems to be a hard thing to do in practice.  It
> is much easier to adopt the bunker mentality, and try to protect it all
> behind one big wall.  Which doesn't work much better in practice, but pays
> consultants a lot better.

<chuckle>

> Normally, I wouldn't assume Lt. Generals understand technical matters
> very well, prefering instead to listen to majors and below.  I have
> no clue what the Lt. General is thinking changing .mil to .com will
> do for security.
> 
> http://www.fcw.com/pubs/fcw/1999/0419/fcw-newsdod-4-19-99.html

Well, from the piece, either the reporter or the officer fails to
understand the fundamental disconnect between the two namespaces and
their implications.

> I wonder if the Lt. General realizes the damage he may end up doing.

Of course not.  _I_ wonder if he's _listening_ to his Colonels...

> Some of us "outsiders" have long relied on information from the military
> web sites to help us improve the design of our own infrastructures.  Which
> in turn the government relies on to carry out its mission.  It is a fallicy
> to think you can provide the information needed to protect the network to
> just one or two "cleared" companies.  I'm not "cleared," yet I still need
> provide information assurance services to my clients.  It would be a shame
> if a hacker chopped three "zeros" off a defense spending bill. I thought
> the government had figured there is more interdependence between all levels
> after all its critical infrastructure studies in the last couple of years.

If this was true, then they wouldn't have shut down the OTA a couple
years ago; they being some of the few people on the Hill who were
waiting at the station when the Clue Train stopped there.  (www.cluetrain.org)

> Sorry, I just had to vent.

You go.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
Member of the Technical Staff     Buy copies of The New Hackers Dictionary.
The Suncoast Freenet            Give them to all your friends.
Tampa Bay, Florida     http://www.ccil.org/jargon/             +1 813 790 7592