Fergie's Tech Blog

DoE CIO Outlines Security Plans

Michael Hardy writes on FCW.com:

Tom Pyke, chief information officer at the Energy Department, launched a security revitalization program there when he took the position in November 2005. Today that program is making strides in locking intruders out of the department's systems, he told an audience at a luncheon hosted by Input.

DOE has been in the spotlight recently because of a successful attack in which cyberthieves stole personal data on about 1,500 contract and agency employees. That incident happened in July 2005, Pyke said, but it was not reported to agency leaders until recently. The revitalization project was not connected to that theft, he added.

The thieves used an old-fashioned "social engineering" attack, sending an e-mail message with malicious code in an attachment. An employee clicked on the attachment, executing software that set up a "back door" for the thieves to access the network of the National Nuclear Security Agency, a semi-autonomous organization within DOE.

posted by Fergie @ 6/28/2006 02:21:00 PM