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Wednesday, September 28, 2005
CHINFO/FHTNC/USAFNS Debacle - #6 - Security Concerns Shut Down Commercial Email
On September 26, the Navy Times website posted an article entitled "Security concerns shut down commercial e-mail." My immediate reaction was that the lower paygrades are getting shafted again. I asked my contacts to give me their opinion of the action, and while the lower paygrades may be getting the short end of the stick, the consensus is that the action is warranted. The Army and the Air Force have had the prohibition for about two years. I must admit that it took me a little while to understand the problem until I received some unclassified hardcopy documentation from DTii (Deep Throat aye, aye).
The problem is that NMCI (Navy Marine Corps Intranet) had constant problems with viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, etc that was introduced into the system by unsuspecting users. Problems related to security of classified material and OPSEC (Operational Security) was not addressed. So, they cut off access to personal email such as web based email accounts from Yahoo, Msn Hotmail, ComCast, Cox Cable, etc. This should not adversely affect their ability to surf the net in the performance of their assigned duties.
I am all for the lower ranks, and this will make it more difficult to communicate with "the folks back home." But, I applaud this action, and it was long overdue. This action actually has an impact on security, as opposed to withholding FHTNC releases which does not.
The rumors that resurfaced about the impending shutdown of FHTNC due to the use of legacy software that has not been migrated to the new NMCI system were just that, scuttlebutt. The fact of the matter is that it is a scheduled temporary shutdown of communications between NMCI and the remaining legacy systems. This will provide commanders with the opportunity to evaluate the impact of turning off communications between NMCI and legacy systems. This is a pretty good example of alarmists jumping to conclusions without understanding the facts. Of course, the only exercise that some people get is jumping to conclusions! LOL!
~G: Stay Tuned, More to come.
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