Those 'Enthusiastic' Cyber Defenders

We always knew computer specialists have a mischievous side, and the recent disclosure of documents about the Homeland Security Department's Cyber Storm exercise only gives more weight to that view. DHS -- along with the departments of State, Defense, Justice, and the CIA and National Security Agency -- conducted the Cyber Storm war game in February 2006 to test the United States' response to hackers infiltrating federal and corporate computer networks, as well as other scenarios. The Associated Press recently obtained 328 pages of censored documents about the exercise and among its findings: some of the computer specialists participating in the game responded to the mock attacks by attacking the network that operated the game, according to Bruce Schneier, who writes an information security blog called Schneier on Security. DHS offered this explanation for the shenanigans:

"Any time you get a group of (information technology) experts together, there's always a desire, 'Let's show them what we can do,'" said George Foresman, a former senior Homeland Security official who oversaw Cyber Storm. "Whether its intent was embarrassment or a prank, we had to temper the enthusiasm of the players."

Hat tip: boingboing