Wednesday, July 10, 2013

We're Professionals: Don't Try This At Home

Sometimes you come across stories that are just so breathtakingly stupid, you have to pass them on.  According to ARS Technica,
The Economic Development Administration (EDA) is an agency in the Department of Commerce that promotes economic development in regions of the US suffering slow growth, low employment, and other economic problems. In December 2011, the Department of Homeland Security notified both the EDA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that there was a possible malware infection within the two agencies' systems.

The NOAA isolated and cleaned up the problem within a few weeks.
....
EDA's CIO, fearing that the agency was under attack from a nation-state, insisted instead on a policy of physical destruction. The EDA destroyed not only (uninfected) desktop computers but also printers, cameras, keyboards, and even mice. The destruction only stopped—sparing $3 million of equipment—because the agency had run out of money to pay for destroying the hardware.
In reaction to a simple malware infection, the EDA destroyed an estimated $170,500 in computers, monitors, cameras and mice.  But wait!  That's not all.  It actually cost taxpayers  $2,700,000. 
...$823,000 went to the security contractor for its investigation and advice, $1,061,000 for the acquisition of temporary infrastructure (requisitioned from the Census Bureau), $4,300 to destroy $170,500 in IT equipment, and $688,000 paid to contractors to assist in development of a long-term response. Full recovery took close to a year.
Remember, the fed.gov insect overlords are our philosopher kings.  They're simply our betters in every way.   

Of course, since they're an agency "that promotes economic development in regions of the US suffering slow growth, low employment, and other economic problems." which is to say the blue states, it's always possible they were using the infection as an excuse to destroy evidence of something they wouldn't want widely known...



7 comments:

  1. But what evidence could possibly be held in computer mice and monitors???

    Unless, they all had spy devices planted in them? Didn't the DoD discover the Chinese-made CPU chips in their computers had back doors built into them last year?

    Pwnerific.

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    Replies
    1. But what evidence could possibly be held in computer mice and monitors??? Nothing I can think of. But I wouldn't think to destroy the computers either.

      Re: the chips with the built-in back doors - that sounds familiar, but I'm not sure. Maybe Borepatch will comment: he's the security wizard.

      Delete
  2. Want to know why this really happened? Speculation, of course, but...

    Someone in the chain of command of this agency who received the virus notification thought their computer was too slow and wanted a newer model. Cleaning up the infection would not have resulted in a newer, faster computer. But if you destroy all the "infected" hardware, you have to replace it...

    It may not be precisely stupid, but it still burns.

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    Replies
    1. Ever work on gubmint job? That sounds like a plausible chain of events to me.

      Delete
  3. I'd say this was an appropriate response. I mean I once found a roach in my cupboard... so I burned the neighborhood to the ground. Yep, problem solved.
    Id-Sean

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    Replies
    1. I see you're better than me. I just used a flamethrower, and the roaches were back as soon as I rebuilt the kitchen.

      Delete
  4. Apparently the Economic Development Administration never heard of The Broken Window Fallacy and thought they were spurring economic development by destroying computer equipment and buying new.

    ReplyDelete