From: InfoSec News (alertsinfosecnews.org)
Date: Wed Jul 08 2009 - 01:47:41 CDT

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http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2009/tc2009076_873512.htm

BusinessWeek
July 6, 2009

Tim McKnight is well acquainted with threats to cybersecurity. A former
special agent with the FBI, he specialized in corporate espionage and
foreign counterintelligence. He's also handled information security for
Cisco Systems (CSCO) and BAE Systems and has participated in a group
called the Transglobal Secure Collaboration Program, whose mission is
protecting intellectual property in the aerospace industry.

Those security chops are tested daily in McKnight's role as chief
information security officer at Northrop Grumman (NOC). The defense
industry faces "a near-existential threat from state-sponsored foreign
intelligence services" that target sensitive IP, according to a report
by the Internet Security Alliance, a nonprofit organization on whose
board McKnight sits.

Northrop Grumman experienced the implications of that threat firsthand
recently. According to a Frontline investigation that aired June 23,
reporters were able to purchase an unencrypted hard drive of a Northrop
Grumman employee in Ghana for $40. The drive reportedly contained
hundreds of documents about government contracts.

"Detailed Asset-Disposal Procedure"

McKnight recently spoke with BusinessWeek.com writer Rachael King. A
Northrup Grumman PR representative wouldn't let McKnight address the
issues raised by Frontline, instead issuing a statement that said: "We
believe this hard drive may have been stolen after one of our
asset-disposal vendors took possession of the unit. …We have a detailed
asset-disposal procedure in place. Despite sophisticated safeguards, no
company can inoculate itself completely against crime. The fact that
this information is outside our control is disconcerting." But McKnight
was able to discuss other threats facing his industry. Edited excerpts
follow.

[...]

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