Big John Bites Dicks (Security Clearance)

On Fri, 08 Aug 2003 12:50:07 GMT, "Michael Pilla"
wrote:


Twenty years ago, we couldn't bring calculators with memories into the work
areas (I once had a security officer pick up a calculator I was using and
ask, "Is that a classified number?"). Today, most engineering and
management types are wedded to their PDAs, and the security guys either
have to allow them in or cripple the true work.

Security level must have been low if PDAs were allowed in/out without
checking/vetting several steps along the way.

There are generally three phases of security:

1. "Never heard of them"
2. "Oh my God, no! Keep them out of here!"
3. "Well, all right, but....."

I've seen this process happen on several types of new technology. Soon
after they reluctantly agreed that you could bring in calculators with
memory, someone showed up with a TI-59 with the magnetic-card read/write
capability.

As far as the PDAs were concerned, initially they were looked on as nothing
more than the electronic equivalents of paper notepads or upgraded versions
of multifunction calculators. Then some bright spark realized that many of
them had wireless transmission capability (e.g., "beaming") and the
knee-jerk happened. Eventually, they're to the point where they approve
them on an individual model-by-model basis depending upon the capability of
the unit, and upon a manager's signoff that the unit is vital to work
performance. So when you see PDAs, they have big ugly "Security Approved"
stickers on them.

I've always been fascinated with the differences in security levels between
government agencies, and between those agencies and the contractors that do
the work for them. In the past, I've had to undergo routine exit searches
on mildly sensitive programs, and while on another program we were sealed
in a metal TEMPEST enclosure to do our work, while our customer had
ordinary offices with windows that opened. I still am appalled at how easy
it was for Wen Ho Lee....

Ron Wanttaja