Speaking of Internet Security

By Brad

Ars Technica has an interesting report on the Department of Homeland Security’s recent “Cyberwargames.”

The Cyber Strategic Inquiry, held at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday and Thursday, brought together 230 top leaders from government and the private sector for an elaborate simulation of a large-scale attack on America’s information infrastructure. The simulation was run by the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton in collaboration with Business Executives for National Security.

Participants were split into four teams comprising government officials, a private-sector team, a civil-society team, and a mixed-membership control group. The teams represented groups whose response in a real attack would be critical. On the government side, there was Homeland Security, the intelligence community, the Defense Department, and various civilian agencies; on the business side, financial services, telecom and IT firms, energy companies, and the transportation sector.

Unfortunately, the results from the tests weren’t exactly encouraging:

“There isn’t a response or a game plan,” Booz Allen Senior VP Mark Gerencser told reporters, “There isn’t really anybody in charge.” House Homeland Security Chair James Langevin (D-RI) agreed, saying “we’re way behind where we need to be now.”

As the U.S. aims to build up its broadband infrastructure, these sort of doomsday games are going to become more and more vital.