________________________________________________________________________________ Wired News The Crash of a Dot Gov by Declan McCullagh 3:20 p.m. 15.Feb.2000 PST WASHINGTON -- As government aides were frantically preparing for the president's last-minute Internet-reliability summit with technology leaders, thousands of visitors couldn't reach the U.S. Senate's own Web site. It was offline for over nine hours Monday, from early afternoon to after 11 p.m. (EST) due to technical problems, Senate officials said. The embarrassing site failure comes just as the U.S. government is telling private firms how important it is that they increase the reliability and security of their own networks. "Our administration has been working for years now to reduce vulnerabilities in government computers and to encourage the private sector to do more," President Clinton said before Tuesday's one-hour meeting with corporate information officers, academics, and Cabinet members. The event was designed to focus media attention on computer security, announce an industry-wide information sharing mechanism, and bolster support for Clinton's 2001 budget request. Over 25 security experts from companies including AT&T, GTE, MCI Worldcom, Intel, and Microsoft attended the meeting Tuesday, and described Clinton as interested and "engaged" in the topic. In a CNN.com chat Monday, Clinton criticized last week's denial-of-service attacks but cautioned against overreaction. So did administration officials who spoke to reporters after Tuesday's meeting. "I think that everyone recognized that the potential of the Internet, the positive implications, the strength that it has brought to the economy needs to be kept in mind as we seek a stronger security situation and address these problems," said John Podesta, White House chief of staff. Commerce Secretary William Daley and Attorney General Janet Reno also participated. Podesta said there was "strong support in the meeting for the president's budget initiative" that includes $2 billion in critical infrastructure-related spending. It also includes $240 million to rewire telephone networks to ensure police can wiretap communications. The big news was the data-sharing plan. "The most profitable thing is that companies agreed to trade information," said FCC chief technologist David Farber. The idea is that tech firms will cooperate more in exchanging tips on vulnerabilities, intrusions, and countermeasures. But it's unclear how much the highly touted initiative will help. Companies already work together in many ways, including trade associations and industry working groups. During last week's attacks, network providers quietly joined forces through conference calls, private mailing list discussions, and information posted on a private Web site. Over 38 firms and 10 trade associations have endorsed a statement drafted by the Information Trade Association of America. Three companies that attended the White House meeting but were not among the initial signatories were eTrade, lifescape.com, and GTE. Although everyone talked about the global nature of the Internet, no non-US firms or representatives were invited. Whit Diffie, an engineer at Sun Microsystems and the co-inventor of public key cryptography, said the feds should pay attention to the security of non-US computers. European computers connected to the Net appear to have been enlisted in last week's attacks on eTrade and Amazon.com, according to GTE. "For the first time, the US has a vested interest in the security of computers worldwide," Diffie said. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,34362,00.html ________________________________________________________________________________ no copyright 2000 rolux.org - no commercial use without permission. is a moderated mailing list for the advancement of minor criticism. more information: mail to: majordomo@rolux.org, subject line: , message body: info. further questions: mail to: rolux-owner@rolux.org. archive: http://www.rolux.org