{"id":549383,"date":"2006-06-30T11:03:02","date_gmt":"2006-06-30T11:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/549383-smart-bird-has-eagle-eye-on-state.html"},"modified":"2006-06-30T11:03:02","modified_gmt":"2006-06-30T11:03:02","slug":"smart-bird-has-eagle-eye-on-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/549383-smart-bird-has-eagle-eye-on-state.html","title":{"rendered":"Smart bird has eagle eye on state"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a nondescript, brick office block ringed with electric fencing and closed-circuit cameras in Centurion, south of Pretoria, Electronic Communications Security (Comsec) is gearing up to manage the entire state communications technology network. <\/font><\/p>\n

If all goes to plan, within a few years Comsec will be controlling the gateways and security systems of all telephone, fax, computer- and Internet-based communications of the more than 600 departments, subdepartments, agencies and parastatal enterprises that drive the infrastructure of government. <\/font><\/p>\n

Tasked with steering this still-small, understaffed company in its Augean task is a slim, dynamic commercial lawyer-turned-security specialist in her late-30s, Taki Netshitenzhe – youngest of the five siblings known most widely for brother Joel, top ANC communicator who is now policy co-ordinator in the presidency. <\/font><\/p>\n

In intelligence terms, Taki Netshitenzhe is a modernist, eschewing the archetypal, old-world secretiveness with refreshing candour, even granting the FM an unprecedented interview and walk-through of the Comsec facility. <\/font><\/p>\n

Netshitenzhe was drawn into security service in the mid-1990s by then-presidential legal adviser Fink Haysom, who was one of her teachers at Wits University. She was legal adviser to then-deputy intelligence minister Joe Nhlanhla, and later head of legal services, shuttling between the presidency and justice ministry that shared intelligence co-ordination in those days. With the formation of Comsec, by parliament in 2004, she became its first executive director and acting CEO. <\/font><\/p>\n

But why should we care about Comsec and its veiled eagle eye? For Netshitenzhe there is no question. <\/font><\/p>\n

"Security is even more justified now than it was 20 years ago," she says. " Now, when we are talking of the social and economic wellbeing of the country, where the entire infrastructure used by government is dependent on IT systems that are Web-based, the threat of cyber-sabotage is great." <\/font><\/p>\n

Just as hacker and virus attacks have crippled operations of big private-sector corporations – for instance Standard Bank’s Internet services and retailer Edgars – government’s online networks are just as vulnerable, and the consequences potentially more disastrous. <\/font><\/p>\n

"An attack on the networks could shut down power lines, railways, radar systems, law enforcement agencies, the military; planes could fall out of the sky – that is my worst nightmare," she says. <\/font><\/p>\n

Alarmist perhaps, but it’s not impossible. And that tiny chink of the possible is what keeps intelligence agencies in business. Comsec’s multimillion rand investment in state-of-the-art technology is tangible evidence that government takes its cyber-vulnerabilities seriously. The Comsec budget is classified, contained within that of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) which draws its funding from treasury’s annual R2bn outlay to security services. But sources within the IT-intelligence community say it took at least R250m to establish Comsec – and will soak up a good deal more after Comsec moves to its new, custom-built facility alongside security services’ headquarters, Musanda, south east of Pretoria next May. <\/font><\/p>\n

The idea of a Comsec began in the mid-1990s, when government realised it had to unify its disparate and weak signals intelligence capabilities. A task team headed by then-telecoms director-general Andile Ngcaba studied signals intelligence agencies abroad, including those of Britain, the US, New Zealand and Canada. It led to the formation of the signals-intercepting National Communications Centre (NCC) and, separately, Comsec. <\/font><\/p>\n

Central to Comsec’s function is the "security operations centre" (SOC) – a tightly secured, top-secret ops room, staffed around the clock and humming with powerful computers linked to an international cyber-defence network. <\/font><\/p>\n

For now, the SOC is somewhat makeshift, as the premises are not ideal. But at Musanda, it will be located in a subterranean bunker, with a 12 m x 3 m TV screen displaying every wink and whinny of government’s cyber-traffic, and virus movements across the globe. <\/font><\/p>\n

Eventually, every state department’s cyber communications will be routed through the SOC, which will serve as a single firewall and surveillance centre for all government communications. <\/font><\/p>\n

The concept, called "managed security services", is modelled on the operations centre of IT security company Faritec in northern Johannesburg. Faritec manages the communications security of at least 35 private-sector clients – mostly large corporations. It is now a key contractor and strategic partner of Comsec. <\/font><\/p>\n

Comsec’s SOC only became fully operational at the end of March, and is still in pilot phase, using what live monitoring it does mainly for training of technicians. But, by this time next year, a further 15 departments, including the Reserve Bank, will be routing through the network, and more will be going "live" in the months to come. <\/font><\/p>\n

But Comsec’s role is not limited to online monitoring: the company must also verify and adapt all new equipment and software to government specifications, using government algorithms, or codes, to make them unique and more secure from outside interference. <\/font><\/p>\n

It is also responsible for drawing up policies and procedures for state organisations to protect sensitive data. Visiting consultants and wireless networks, for instance, may cause security breaches, even inadvertently. As Netshitenzhe says, just one breach can weaken the entire network. <\/font><\/p>\n

This goes to the heart of the Comsec rationale: while most companies focus on external threats to their networks, using firewalls and passwords, at least 80% of incidents come from within organisations – from negligent or disgruntled employees or ex-employees with access to the system. <\/font><\/p>\n

That is why Comsec is part of SA’s intelligence framework: it must trace and analyse every "attack" on government systems to determine whether it was strategic or frivolous, and report serious, strategic attacks to sister agencies, such as the SA Secret Service or NIA. <\/font><\/p>\n

For all of its hi-tech capabilities, though, Netshitenzhe acknowledges that Comsec’s biggest need is skilled staff. The company has a total of just 36 staff currently, few of them technical, which is less than half its assigned staff capacity. When one considers that Faritec employs 48 IT engineers alone, serving far fewer clients than will Comsec, the scale of the parastatal’s challenge becomes more starkly apparent. <\/font><\/p>\n

"We are focusing strongly on recruitment now, and on training and retaining staff," says Netshitenzhe. State security procedures add strain; only South Africans can work for Comsec, and recruits must undergo security training in addition to IT skills training. <\/font><\/p>\n

The only way for Comsec to succeed, she says, is through "smart partnerships" with industry, "because government is not in the business of researching and developing big machinery". <\/font><\/p>\n

The establishment of Comsec initially brought friction with the State Information Technology Agency (Sita) that is responsible for standardising and procuring government IT infrastructure. But Netshitenzhe wants to mend broken fences. In the interview she emphasised Comsec’s willingness to work closely with Sita and other government, or semi government organs, such as IT company arrivia.kom and the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research. <\/font><\/p>\n

One relationship that has rai
\nsed eyebrows is Andile Ngcaba’s continuing involvement with Comsec – as non executive chairman of the board, a three-year, ministerial appointment that is due to end in November. The point of contention stems from the fact that Ngcaba is also chairman of IT company Dimension Data, a Comsec contractor. Netshitenzhe says there has never been a question of conflicting interest, and that Ngcaba’s company has not benefited from the shared association. <\/font><\/p>\n

As one of the originators of Comsec, it is natural for Ngcaba to have been chosen to lead the board. Nevertheless, given the level of secrecy surrounding the company’s operations, it would be better for all concerned when his time at the helm expires. <\/font><\/p>\n

INet-Bridge ||<\/em>\u00a0 <\/font>Discuss this article<\/font><\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

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