EH-Net

Due to the spread of the Agent.btx worm, removable media have been banned from sipr and nipr nets. While the article discussed the army specifically, it sounded like this was going to be implemented for all branches. Seems like a fairly serious situation.


http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/army-bans-usb-d.html (http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/11/army-bans-usb-d.html)

It surprises me that they have not done this before. I know that the only removable media currently authorized on our classified systems for data transfer are CDs. Of course there are plenty of restrictions on how to use them for this purpose, but as far as other media goes, we are not even allowed to take a thumb drive in to the classified lab. We'll watch and see how this plays out.

It certainly does seem to be the logical move. It surprises me that they were this lax about it to begin with.

well you are only "supposed" to use govt issued usb drives that would only touch other govt systems which "should" stop that, but we all know how well that works...

Chris beat me too it  :(. Has anyone read how they intend to enforce this?

I'm hoping they'll be some form of edge protection to stop the functionality of USB drives if inserted, rather than 'please don't do that'. But from the mention of govt issued devices in the future I'm guessing not. Looks like an way to create scapegoats rather than address the fundamental issues.

From those in the know does the military not already have a boiler plate AUP stating 'don't connect nasty things to our network'? If so, how is this different?

ha i win!

they do have the AUP, i think this is a "dont do anything until your drive has been scanned" scenario, just to curb the spread.  least thats what the article said.

Which will of course be totally useless if you turn right back around and plug it into your spammy, malware-ridden, porn storage device again.

exactly

It cracks me up, but you are right about the AUP: scan then use..... Of course we all know that only works if there is a signature for the malware and IF the end user actually does scan it. Oh well....

Another article with slightly more detail on the specifics of the malware issue:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-na-cyberattack28-2008nov28,0,230046.story

what you mean all AV doesnt find custom written malware...oops.