An interesting development that went mostly un-noticed in the broader press coverage dealing with homeland security.
The short version is that while the Zotob worm was running rough-shod over the ‘Net last August CBP computer systems went belly-up. The initial reports said that the worm was to blame, but that was quickly retracted and the excuse was that the crash was “routine.” A lot of folks bought this excuse because, as front-line CBP personnel said at the time, the system crashes about as often most of us change our underwear.
At the time I wrote that either way, this was no way to run a system that is at the pointy-end of our efforts to prevent bad guys from entering the country. It appears that barring an appeal the CBP is now obliged to release under a FOIA request records related to the un-infection. No matter how it plays out my original comment still stands: if we can’t keep a simple system like this secured, we’re asking for trouble.
