Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Technology and Society, War Commentary

The Country’s In The Very Best Of Hands

13 Comments

OPM outsourced root to China.

Well, then I guess they do have a point that encryption wouldn’t have been very useful

Seriously, I think it’s time to completely overhaul the civil service system. We just had a cyber Pearl Harbor. Will anyone be punished? We know the answer to that one.

[Thursday-morning update]

The military-clearance OPM breach is an absolute calamity. And Obama can’t even bring himself to admit that the federal government screwed up.

13 thoughts on “The Country’s In The Very Best Of Hands”

    1. This is brilliant actually. The OPM does not need to pay for database backups anymore. The Chinese do them.

    2. It is incompetence above and beyond what is normal for DC bureaucrats. However, we can be certain that not only will no one go to jail for this, they won’t even be fired. At worst, someone will be forced into early retirement.

      It’s way past time to reform the Civil Service rules to make it easier to fire bureaucratic screw ups and deadwood. As it is now, they have great power but no accountability.

  2. Global outsourcing of the spy database administration to cut costs. It ended up being administrated by a citizen of the PRC. Your dollars at work here.

    Yeah I would say the database not being encrypted is the least concern.

  3. Lazy and incompetent explains it all. Govt. and military should have their own separate internet. National security has to be a priority in a world full of aggressors.

    2. Nope. The Internet was created precisely so government and military could continue to communicate in the case of the severe disruptions caused by nuclear attack.

      1. Ed, how would having their own secure internet interfere with that? The regular internet doesn’t go away just because they have their own.

        1. As soon as a single computer on the separate network is connected to the Internet, that whole separate network is no longer separate; it becomes part of the Internet. Can’t stuff the genie back in the bottle.

    3. Leadership at the top usually sets the tone of operations on down the line. Lazy and incompetent describes Barack Obama pretty well.

    1. It’s worse than that. Root access is the master key to every door and every safe in the building.

      1. Agreed, but root doesn’t mean every encryption password need be compromised. You can still have security on an insecure system. As a matter of fact, you should always consider others have access to your files yet maintain security.

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