DHS
Security
News
DHS
wants
people
at
work
and
home
to
patch
their
computers
as
a
matter
of
homeland
security.
By
Mickey
McCarter
HomelandDefenseRadio.com
Microsoft
issued
some
critical
updates
to
its
operating
systems
last
week.
The
company
wanted
its
users
to
be
aware
that
Windows
had
vulnerabilities
that
could
let
unauthorized
people
take
control
of
the
operating
system.
That
concerned
the
Department
of
Homeland
Security,
so
it
issued
advisories
through
U.S.
CERT
,
…a
unit
that
it
established
in
partnership
with
Carnegie
Mellon
University
in
Pittsburgh
last
year.
U.S.
CERT
Deputy
Director
Lawrence
Hale
says
his
group’s
mission
is
to
protect
communications
and
Internet
infrastructure
through
the
coordination
of
events
and
protective
actions
in
cyberspace.
"We
maintain
a
24/7
operations
center,
gathering
information
about
vulnerabilities,
exploits,
attacks,
malicious
code,
security
events
on
the
Internet
and
in
cyberspace.
We
analyze
vulnerabilities
and
analyze
these
incidents
and
issue
alerts
and
tips
to
users,
advising
them
on
protective
measures
and
actions
they
can
take
to
protect
their
systems."
Hale
says
government
assistance
in
these
matters
is
crucial,
as
hackers
and
cyberterrorists
could
use
the
resources
of unpatched
computers
to
launch
attacks
against
important
Internet
assets.
Injuring
these
assets
could
result
in
the
loss
of
security
or
money
to
American
businesses,
which
control
most
of
this
critical
infrastructure.
"The
nation’s
economy
and
the
prosperity
and
economic
well-being
of
our
society
depends
upon
the
effective
functioning
of
those
elements
of
the
economy.
So
it
is
in
the
interest
of
our
society
for
the
government
to
be
interested
in
and
participating
in
the
protection
and
assurance
of
the
availability
of
those
services."
U.S.
CERT
can
send
alerts
to
anyone
that
subscribes
to
them
through
its
Web
site
at
www
dot
us
cert
dot
gov.
People
can
sign
up
to
receive
alerts
in
their
e-mail
and
can
choose
to
receive
very
technical
or
more
general
alerts.
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