The Myths of Security

Chapter 19. Living in Fear?

*I am a bit ashamed to admit that I watch the TV show 24. While I enjoy the bubblegum plot and the action, what I really like most about it is something else entirely.

24 is a show about homeland security. It paints a picture of a world where we just barely survive all kinds of terrorist activities, more by luck than anything else. It portrays a world where Homeland Security is not effective whatsoever, mainly because good people are choked by bureaucracy, and only people who are willing to bend the rules will get good results.

In the world of 24, they talk a lot about computer security. Bad guys hack government machines. Good guys hack government machines. What I love, though, is to laugh at their absurd security and technology discussions.

For instance, in the world of 24, the entire government is protected by one big firewall. When the bad guys control the firewall, they’re instantly capable of doing anything they want on any computer in the U.S. government. In one recent episode, the bad guys used their access to take over the FAA flight systems.

There’s a lot wrong with that scenario. First, if you can bypass a firewall, it doesn’t automatically give you full access to the machines behind it—it just allows you to see those machines in the first place. You still have to find a way onto the machines.

And then, does anyone really expect the FAA to connect the air traffic control systems to systems that can access the public Internet? Sure, there may be some ...