In an effort to thwart future unauthorized releases of government documents, the Pentagon is now banning the use of removable drives on its classified network. The move comes after thousands of classified documents and several military videos were released to the WikiLeaks web site earlier this year.
The order, initially from the Air Force and reportedly from the other services as well, prohibits users of its classified network, SIPRNet, from using what the Air Force described as “removable media on all systems, servers and stand-alone machines” on the network. Removable media include thumb drives, DVDs, CDs and similar devices.
‘The Insider Threat’
The order noted that “unauthorized data transfers routinely occur on classified networks using removable media and are a method the insider threat uses to exploit classified information.”
The Pentagon conducted an internal review this summer, which suggested that all computers storing classified information have the ability to write to removable media disabled. But excluding removable media makes the logistics of the system more difficult, since computers storing classified information are sometimes disconnected from a network, or in areas where the network connection is spotty or slow.
“Users will experience difficulty with transferring data for operational needs, which could impede timeliness on mission execution,” according to the Pentagon order. But this isn’t the first time removable drives have been banned. In 2008, they were prohibited following a widespread worm infection on the Pentagon’s computers, but the ban was removed last February.
In a statement after WikiLeaks published diplomatic cables, the military said “the theft of materials traces to the lack of sharing of information and intelligence prior to and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.”
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