Government Computer News
Court cuts Interior’s Internet links again
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the Interior Department to disconnect hundreds of additional systems from the Internet to protect American Indian trust data.
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The department, which previously had disconnected 4 percent of its computer systems from the Internet, pulled an additional 1 percent in response to the latest court order, an Interior spokesman said. Spokesman Stephen King said estimates the department issued earlier today of the total number of systems disconnected were guesses. He confirmed that the department had disconnected hundreds of additional systems as a result of the order.
King declined to estimate the total number of systems the department has. Interior employs about 78,000 employees, but not all of them use computers.
The latest cutoff mandate came in a June 27 temporary restraining order issued by Judge Royce C. Lamberth. He presides over litigation now known as Cobell et al v. Norton et al, in which American Indian trust beneficiaries seek restitution of funds lost or stolen due to Interior mismanagement—possibly billions of dollars.
Lamberth first ordered Interior to sever its Internet connections in December 2001 because consultants retained by the court determined that the trust accounts were vulnerable to hacking.
The department progressively has been restoring Internet links since then as it has implemented security upgrades approved by court official Alan Balaran. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is the central repository of the trust records, has not met Balaran’s security requirements yet and has remained offline.
In his June 27 order, Lamberth required Interior to disconnect from the Internet all systems that house or provide access to American Indian trust data. Interior will be allowed to reconnect the systems when Balaran “has determined that all individual Indian trust data is properly secured.”
Lamberth later exempted systems “for protection against fires and other threat[s] to life or property” from the order.
That addendum to Lamberth’s order echoed a modification to his December 2001 order, which allowed Interior agencies involved in law enforcement, wildfire fighting and other public safety activities to retain their Internet connections. Interior operates law enforcement units in the National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service, among other agencies.
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