pentagon flash drive ban has many exceptions

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-
A defense ministry spokesman said the Pentagon has approved many exceptions, possibly thousands of people, allowing staff managing secure computer networks to use flash drives and other portable storage devices.
Exceptions to policies that prohibit the use of such devices may make it easier for rogue employees to delete sensitive documents.
But for those who update software and run service desk services for the Pentagon\'s vast computer network, giving up is necessary to run the system effectively, officials said. The U. S.
Since Edward Snowden served as the system administrator for NSA contractors, the government\'s handling of sensitive documents has been reviewed, copying confidential material on a device in Hawaii, and leaked to the news media.
According to a government source close to the investigation, Snowden used a simple flash drive to store the materials.
Since the 2008 Buckshot Yankee event, storage has been a concern for the Department of Defense, in which a malware worm called agent.
Btz is uploaded to the military network via a thumb drive. Then-
Deputy Secretary of State Bill Lynn declassified the incident on 2010. S.
The network Command, established after Buckshot Yankee, banned the devices.
At about the same time, according to prosecutors, military intelligence analyst Bradley Manning copied thousands of documents to CDs and digital camera cards and leaked them to the counter
WikiLeaks website
Lieutenant Colonel James Gregory said that since then, the Pentagon has stepped up its efforts to prevent the removal of confidential data.
He said the department 100% complied with instructions to ban or strictly control the use of mobile media devices on Pentagon security networks.
A Pentagon spokesman said this means that the profile of most users is limited and their computers cannot recognize flash drives and other devices that may be plugged into USB ports, such as blackberries.
Different military branches have also set up procedures to control and track people authorized to download data from security networks, they said.
If someone is connecting an unauthorized device, or accessing the system improperly using credentials, the automated system will report immediately.
While the use of flash drives is largely banned, for installation of software and management service desk services for the ministry\'s millions of computers and nearly 600,000 mobile devices in about 15,000 network groups
· A Pentagon spokesperson for Damien Pickett said that the department was unable to specify how many exceptions there were because the authorization was given to smaller units within the scope of the service and was not tracked at the department level.
Given the size of the system, it could have thousands, he said.
Former Pentagon officials and current cyber security expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, Steven Buch, believe --
The Pentagon-scale computer network requires a large number of administrators at different levels to run efficiently, Tank said.
Focusing access and control in the hands of a few people could create greater risks, he added, if one of the credible few decided to divulge information because they would have access to a wider range of information.
\"At one point, you have to start trusting others, which will be a very imperfect system,\" he said . \".
\"If you have a malicious insider --
Someone who has the right to do things but later decides to break the rules-
You have a question. . .
There\'s almost nothing you can do to stop this.
Pentagon officials said: \"The decision on who gets the exemption is made by the colonel or general who has been given the power of their facilities, brigades or other units.
The Pentagon declined to comment on Mr. Snowden\'s case on the grounds of ongoing criminal investigations.
Butch said that after the Manning case, the Pentagon has strengthened cyber security as much as possible.
\"Then it comes down to the leadership, trying to look at your people and listen to those signals,\" he said . \".
\"But hell, I mean, even if you have the best and most capable leaders and supervisors in the world, sometimes you still miss these people.