back to article Build the wall... around your DNS settings, US govt IT staff urged by Homeland Security amid domain hijackings

America's Homeland Security has urged US government departments and federal agencies to shore up their DNS control panels after hackers successfully stormed the barricades. In an emergency directive issued within the past few hours, IT staff still manning their posts during the partial US government shutdown are advised to …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Brave New World

    How long before they just pay Google to manage their data collection and security? I've never heard of Google being hacked even though they hold a bulk of the world's information.

    1. Ole Juul

      Re: Brave New World

      Never say never. Google Public DNS Server Traffic Hijacked Just sayin'.

    2. Tom Paine

      Re: Brave New World

      *cough* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aurora

  2. Ochib

    Under the Antideficiency Act, It is illegal for staff employed by the US government to check their email during a shutdown. So it is unlikely that the IT staff will officially know about this until they go back to work

    1. Mark 85

      This is a joke right?

      And then when they get back to work they'll be in trouble for not reading emails and complying. The agency is telling them they have 10 days and will be held accountable.

      I suppose that the political types thought that since the government was shutdown, the miscreants of the world would also be shutdown. Nice to know that there are top people in charge... top!

      1. Ochib

        Re: This is a joke right?

        https://www.theverge.com/2013/10/1/4792008/furloughed-federal-employees-prohibited-from-using-work-phones

      2. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: This is a joke right?

        Nearly a month of unattended government IT. China and Russia must be filling their boots.

      3. John Robson Silver badge

        Re: This is a joke right?

        "I suppose that the political types thought that since the government was shutdown, the miscreants of the world would also be shutdown. "

        To be fair the world's biggest miscreant has been shut down - at least partially...

      4. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: This is a joke right?

        "The agency is telling them they have 10 days and will be held accountable."

        Business days don't include weekends and public holidays. Presumably they also don't include periods when the government is shut down. Start counting when business gets back to what passes as normal

        1. Ochib

          Re: This is a joke right?

          "Start counting when business gets back to what passes as normal"

          "Five to one against and falling..." she said, "four to one against and falling...three to one...two...one...probability factor of one to one...we have normality, I repeat we have normality." She turned her microphone off—then turned it back on, with a slight smile and continued: "Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own problem."

    2. Robert Helpmann??
      Childcatcher

      There are a lot of odd things that have resulted from the US government shutdown. For instance, the network of shuttle buses that government employees routinely use to get from one location to another are non-essential. This means that those folks still at work who routinely use public transport have to find a different way to get between work locations than they are used to. This may include taking their own vehicles to work (extra costs for parking and driving) or using a taxi service (more extra costs). This is additional pain for those not getting paid at this time but are obliged to work.

  3. ParasiteParty

    Donald Trump the A-hole...

    This is what you get when an entire country is run by a capitalist pig.

    1. A.P. Veening Silver badge

      Re: Donald Trump the A-hole...

      "This is what you get when an entire country is run by a capitalist pig."

      The results wouldn't be any different with a communist pig shutting down the government.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    OK, I changed my password

    Old Password: Trump!Sucks

    New Password: Trump!Sucks1

    Problem solved.

  5. EnviableOne

    i think its time IT are counted as essential staff (for purposes of ADA)

    1. A.P. Veening Silver badge

      IT essential

      In that case I suggest IT are counted essential enough that they continue to get paid, otherwise the ones you want to keep are very likely to just resign and get a job in the private sector the next time government shuts down.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yeah

    Trump's shutdown. But, when Obama let it happen, it was the Republican's fault. My BS detector is flashing.

    1. Blazde Silver badge

      Re: Yeah

      Obama won(*) his shutdown, ergo it was the Republicans' fault for delaying the inevitable. As it will be the Democrats fault if they give Trump wall money after all.

      (*) So much so he was able to say "nobody is winning", which is what you say when you're so blatantly winning so big you don't even need to tweet about it.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well yes,

    back in the day when hardly anybody ever needed a change in DNS, it was very easy to make he system secure, because the greybeard in charge had a need-to-know policy, i.e. he needed to know you, and his fingertips wove the magic that would let your CNAMEs come into being into text files. Of course, nowadays, we expect fingerprints of five different flavours of short-lived certificates in there, autoconfig information generated by your local AD server, spam policy, and a host of other things, signed by another set of short-lived certificates, turtles all the way down, all of which almost requires you to have an automated, more-widely-visible administrative access.

    More legos, and the same number of naked feet at night.

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