[Infowarrior] - USAF unplugging bases from Internet

[Richard Forno]

(Somehow I don't think this is going to prevent unauthorized Internet  
connections from said bases....just slightly raise the bar.  But we  
shall see...---rf)


Air Force Unplugs Bases' Internet Connections
By Noah Shachtman EmailFebruary 18, 2009 | 1:36:09 PM

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/air-force-cuts.html

Pr20060221a It was considered a harsh, if necessary, measure when the  
U.S. military decided in November to ban all USB drives and removable  
media from its networks to stop a worm assault. But compared to what  
the Air Force's leaders are doing now, that step seems downright  
wimpy. The air service is cutting off its bases' internet connections,  
if they don't comply with strict network security rules.

Recently, internet access was cut off at Maxwell Air Force Base in  
Alabama, because personnel at the facility "hadn't demonstrated — in  
our view at the headquarters — their capacity to manage their network  
in a way that didn't make everyone else vulnerable," Air Force Chief  
of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz tells InsideDefense.com:

     "This is the kind of effort that's required up and down the  
line." ...

     The internet shutdown at the Alabama base was in response to a  
specific, "significant" intrusion that threatened the entire service's  
networks, according to Schwartz.

     The Maxwell event served as an example to everyone in the Air  
Force "that this is not voluntary, that this is the real deal, that we  
have standards and we will collectively enforce those standards or you  
won't be on the net," said Schwartz.

Network administrators at Air Force bases already put strict  
limitations on what sites their troops can and cannot visit. Many  
airmen can't access Danger Room, for example — or any site with the  
word "blog" in the URL. That's in addition to Defense Department-wide  
bans on YouTube, MySpace and other social networking sites.