New agency to sniff out threats in cyberspace | Hacker News Reader

New agency to sniff out threats in cyberspace

washingtonpost.com

24 pointsAnimats6 comments

The agency is modeled after the National Counterterrorism Center,

That seems counterproductive at best. That particular agency seems notable only for its ability to not distinguish between fact and fiction (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/05/terror-watch-list_n...), and to not observe the constitutional right of petition for redress of greivances - there appears to be no way to find out if you're in one of their lists, or to get off those list(s).

Do we really need a CyberChickenLittle to "sniff out threats"? What are they going to do - put all "hacker handles" in TIDE, and then search anyone with those handles before allowing them to "log in" to The Internets?

You know what, that's EXACTLY what we need. Because all the failures of all the other incompetent government agencies have not worked. What we really need is more of that.

To be fair; the only thing that is really saving us is that all these horrible agencies and abuses are being conducted by incompetent institutions. Could you imagine if all these agencies were actually competent at what they claim and intend to do? That's the real danger. A gun is just a hunk of metal, until you give the moron holding it a bullet.

I'm reminded of a possibly fictitious quote, "Our goal is to sell each item at a loss, but we are going to make up for it through volume."

I totally agree. To me it's the (apparent) ineffectiveness of the existing three & four letter organisations and the amount they cost which is the crime. I read the article with prejudice but the take-away was the administration wants to give more money to the same old private intelligence/defense corporations.

Lets call it Netforce and make it part of the FBI instead :)

I'm pretty sure that the new agency is being formed specifically to route around some of the issues with how the FBI recruits and manages computer security professionals.

Given that it's being put directly under the ODNI it's probably part of some obscure power grab in the intelligence community. Per the article it's all about getting all the other cyber agencies to share data and has some vague deliverable around rapid response to emerging events.

My guess is that they will be focused on "hack back" for damage mitigation and denial of advantage. Basically bombing the barn, the horse and the horse thieves after the fact.

Because one for each branch of the military, the DOD, the CIA, the DHS, the NSA, the Office of the DNI, the DOJ, the DOE, the State Department, and the Department of the Treasury all having there own cyber efforts just isn't enough.

I guess this one is going to put a bird on it, or something.

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