United States law enforcement agencies have long used the centralized database systems for storing information on criminals and other law breaking activities for inter-agency cooperation. The FBI has proposed a new system which would also contain more biometric information included with the old photos, rap sheets and biographical information in hopes to boost the capability of crime prevention and investigation units in getting information. The said plan gets many critics due to many problems that are foreseen to come with a new system such as the fact that the agency’s network and computers are some of the most attacked computers on earth. The transmission of all information regarding an investigation is to be sent to the FBI first before all other agencies, which raises questions on the transmission security of the said information. The system in place that has been modified for Homeland Security has a lot of flaws wherein many people with misdemeanors get arrested as “terrorists”. There is no contesting the fact that there is a need for such a system but further testing and development should be done as many experts see the plan. The security and reliability of the government should be prioritized and developed to the full capability of current technology for it to remain acceptable and adaptable for the times to come.

This has bearing for information that is dealt with locally but also with data that is used on the internet as well. Security experts agree that there is no so-called silver bullet that would be able to provide all the security needs of information but rather a mix of technologies. These technologies such as ERM�s or Enterprise Rights Management, allows companies to determine how information is to be used and who gets to send and receive them based on the sensitivity level of the said information in question. For email applications, software that offer S/MIME or Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions are the best bet in controlling which email can be or cannot be sent by a
certain individual out through the internet.

As specified in the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act, all Federal agencies are to regularly be checked with regards to information security. The tests are done by the various security agencies and by independent security developers to see if government offices are protected from cyber crime and that the measures they have are working as designed. Most Federal agencies are protected by their custom security networks which allow them to be treated as a separate entity rather than part of a big federal network. Being separated into smaller networks allows them to be treated locally for any problems with malware isolating them from the rest of the system. The grade for this year is expected to be at C- as opposed to D+ that they got last year. This would be a sign that they are indeed getting better at protecting their respective backyards but would also show the need for more stringent methods. 24 Federal agencies are part of the analysis and they are all tested using varying methods and approaches to see the effectiveness of their Cyber-defenses.

The NIST, has come out with a recommendation for all Federal government agencies to mount mock attacks to see the robustness and effectivity of security and penetration prevention measures/countermeasures that are employed. This due to alarming events that have happened to the British Government�s Tax Offices of junior government people getting hold and rights to download supposedly secure data from government servers. The US Government IT branch recommends that it be done on undisclosed schedules and employ rotating modes of attack to see if all the security in place is doing its job of protecting the information it is supposed to protect.

Cisco, one of the world�s leading producers of network servers that are deployed on the internet and in large corporations has announced the release of their Self-Defending Network version 3.0. This is after they have finalized the acquisition of security software Ironport Systems Inc. Ironport is responsible for the development of a powerful e-mail and web monitoring service called SenderBase. The said system collects information from almost 100,000 internet providers, schools, universities and corporations globally. Checking for more than 110 parameters for any available active web server connected to the internet which allows it to verify, inspect and check e-mail that passes through them (their massive database/s are reported to get at least 5 billion requests per day).

One of the leaders in the data protection business has produced a report that highlights the inability of most software to do what they should be doing which is protecting the networks and the information that goes through it. Sophos Their software, offered for large enterprise and small businesses allows them unsurpassed protection from a broad range of threats. It gets viruses, filters spam, prevents access to phishing sites and classifies e-mail (and their attachments) applying security as needed.
These types of multi-level software allow easy deployment of some of the best and latest security tools out on the market to date giving companies the best protection.

ERM as it is known in enterprise has long been a standard applied in large-scale businesses. This holds some promises for some of the biggest software giants like Symantec are moving to include the said approach directly combined with their anti-virus , anti-spam and firewall technologies already in place.
The invocation of DLP’s gives these already established systems more robust security capabilities eliminating the need for third or fourth party software purchases having one product that is capable of doing all of them. Software from these software giants are scalable and flexible for deployment in businesses from all scopes making it the best bet as the next generation of protection for networks and the information that travels through them.

This stiffer action when handling data includes high costs for as good as encryption systems are, they also cost a lot of money. Most have the cash to spend as in Europe and most of the Developed world but what of the millions in the developing world, should they suffer just because they could not afford the high-tech solutions available to countries and economies that have the cash to spend? That may be the case but remember that the internet connects us all in one big network and any holes in one side, is a hole in the whole net.

The IT industry hailed the coming of the social network as the next step in the evolution of the internet, and it truly is. But as much as we spend more time on our computers in the office and even when we get home, we expose ourselves to more and more threats, more than we could handle. In Europe, the trend in crime has moved into the mainstream internet with many crime organizations shifting from risky manual labor to safer online communications and operations. The various security leaks that resulted in millions of personal records being either lost or stolen have mounted to immeasurable levels the British government had to enforce stiffer data management protocol.

In a move that signifies that the US government may finally be taking cyber-security seriously, they have enlisted the help of the black hat/hacker aka. Dark Tangent, that has been responsible for some of the world’s most prolific viruses a few years back. Hiring a hacker to counter hackers may be the best way to go as there are not many options in the world of hackers where anybody can be anybody. These people are considered to be the scourge of the internet, responsible for some of the most damaging viruses, worms and other forms of attacks that exacts millions of dollars of economic damage each and every year. (Read the rest of this story.)