Tenet doesn't understand Internet

Tenet calls for Internet security -- The Washington Times

Former CIA Director George J. Tenet yesterday called for new security measures to guard against attacks on the United States that use the Internet, which he called "a potential Achilles' heel."

"I know that these actions will be controversial in this age when we still think the Internet is a free and open society with no control or accountability," he told an information-technology security conference in Washington, "but ultimately the Wild West must give way to governance and control."

The problem with this is that the interent isn't located in the United States, it's computers that connect to one another, and largely the only problems that have happened on the net are caused by stupidity, not a lack of control.

He said known adversaries, including "intelligence services, military organizations and non-state actors," are researching information attacks against the United States.

So, Team America: World Police was right and spies are just actors!

Mr. Tenet pointed out that the modernization of key industries in the United States is making them more vulnerable by connecting them with an Internet that is open to attack.

The way the Internet was built might be part of the problem, he said. Its open architecture allows Web surfing, but that openness makes the system vulnerable, Mr. Tenet said.

Access to networks like the World Wide Web might need to be limited to those who can show they take security seriously, he said.

Mr. Tenet called for industry to lead the way by "establishing and enforcing" security standards. Products need to be delivered to government and private-sector customers "with a new level of security and risk management already built in.

The real way to fix these problems is for companies to keep their vital infrastructures offline, or on company only intranets (Wal-Mart has one, so does Food Lion, and you can't access either one from home).

The best way for people to be security conscious on the net is to just not be stupid.

Does the last graph imply that Tenet would like every product to be delivered to the government so they can make sure it is safe, or that they should make them super safe for everybody?