Americans don’t love technology, we worship it. In cleared programs, however, we find ourselves conflicted over such changes. Yes, we save thousands when we no longer hire a person to do a job, but placing classified information on computers doesn’t eliminate the risk – in many cases, it just increases its reach and the possibility for leaks.
One item of malware inserted into a classified computer could send each and every document produced to an adversary. Government agencies and contractors hire professionals to oversee cybersecurity for just that reason. Ah, but who will watch the watchers? Recent wailing and gnashing of teeth bemoans how young people are tasked to operate our office ‘help desks’. You know who these people are, right? They’re the ones you call when your computer won’t respond. They are the ones who install patches to protect against outsiders accessing your system. Generally, they work at night while you are at home. When you return in the morning, like magic, your computer is protected from glitches that would compromise your data. What’s wrong with this?
How does your ‘help desk’ team operate? Are they alone with your systems, the better to work in the quiet of the evening to properly install your protective patches? Here’s where it gets tricky. Do they have a ‘need to know’ everything they can access as they update your computer system? For that matter, does the ‘two-person rule’ apply to them when they work away in the evening? Are you ‘saving money’ by only having single people apply correctives to your system? Are your really saving money, or risking everything because you allow single individuals to apply patches, alone, at night? Even if they were observed reading classified materials to which they had no authorization, who would be ..
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