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The U.S. Department of Defense took an estimated 1,500 computers offline Wednesday after a security breach within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).
"Elements of the OSD unclassified e-mail system were taken offline yesterday afternoon, due to a detected penetration," Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said, according to the transcript of a Thursday press conference. "A variety of precautionary measures are being taken. We expect the system to be online again very soon."
Department of Defense officials had little more to say about the attack, Thursday, and would not confirm the number of systems that had been taken offline.
The Pentagon is exposed to "perhaps hundreds of attacks a day," and the department has back up systems in place, Gates said.
"There is no anticipated adverse impact on ongoing operations," he added. "There will be some administrative disruptions and personal inconveniences"
However, it looks like the secretary himself will not be inconvenienced.
"I don't do e-mail," he said in response to a question. "I'm a very low-tech person."
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Comments (6)
The secretary of defense 'doesn't do e-mail'?By Anonymous on June 22, 2007, 7:59 amThis guy is responsible for the defense of the US, and he's a "very low-tech person?" I think he should get high-tech, and right soon, or be fired. Re: Pentagon...
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Low tech and runs theBy scared on June 22, 2007, 9:28 amLow tech and runs the Security defense department.....WOW!!!
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You gotta understand...By Anonymous on June 22, 2007, 9:37 am...government e-mails are required to be retained - nothing gets deleted. Most of the senior executives in the government, including the SecDef and the President,...
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Self PreservationBy Anonymous on June 22, 2007, 9:45 amThese guys aren't low tech, they just have to cover their a$$. Would you send emails that could could easily be taken out of context and manipulated and used against...
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Content Centric Security (CCS)By D. Shaw on June 22, 2007, 10:18 amCCS would solve much of the mahem. The content should be enforcing authentication, not a centralized authority.
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As a Pentagon veteranBy Brad Reese on June 22, 2007, 10:55 pmWhile an active duty US Army Sergeant, worked daily in the USAMSSA IBM mainframe computer operation of the Pentagon for almost 3 years. You appear to have missed...
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