DOD bans the use of removable, flash-type drives on all government computers

[thedrifter]

DOD bans the use of removable, flash-type drives on all government computers
By Jennifer H. Svan and David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, November 21, 2008

The Defense Department has banned the use of removable flash media and storage devices from all government computers, according to a series of notices put out by the services this week.

The action comes following reports that a worm virus known as "Agent.btz" was discovered infecting some DOD networks, according to Wired magazine.

LeAnne MacAllister, 5th Signal Command’s director of Strategic Communication, U.S. Army Europe, said this week that leadership directed her office to stop using thumb drives — portable memory devices used to store or transfer files.

A separate internal Army e-mail told some government computer users across Europe to turn in all removable media devices.

In an e-mail sent Thursday to all Navy European customers in Naples, officials said "effective immediately all USB Thumb drives, memory sticks/cards and camera flash cards are PROHIBITED from use on any Navy Network (NIPR or SIPR) until further notice."

A worldwide directive issued Thursday by the Marine Corps offered similar restrictions.

"The only authorized media for use on DOD networks is media purchased and provided by the government," the Marine announcement said. "Under no circumstances will personally owned removable media be considered mission essential or used on government networks."

DOD officials at the Pentagon would not confirm the ban.

For security reasons, DOD officials won’t discuss "specific measures commanders in the field may be taking to protect and defend our networks," said Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Butterbaugh, a DOD spokesman.

But Wired magazine, citing an internal Army e-mail on its online edition Wednesday, said the ban comes from the commander of U.S. Strategic Command and applies to both the secret SIPR and unclassified NIPR nets.

The worm virus "Agent.btz" is a variation of an older worm that copies itself to removable USB drives from infected computers and then spreads itself to whatever new systems it is connected to through USB ports, Wired reported.

The worm seriously degrades computer performance by copying itself to multiple programs.

The ban includes memory sticks, thumb drives and camera flash memory cards, according to the Marine Corps directive. External hard disk drives are not included in the ban.

Butterbaugh said DOD’s Global Information Grid includes more than 17,000 local- and regional-area networks and approximately 7 million individual computers.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Media devices prohibited

11/21/2008 By Lance Cpl. Corey A. Blodgett , Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command 29 Palms

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. —By direction of the Marine Corps Network Operations and Security Center, Marine Corps Enterprise Network Operational Directive 293-08, all MCEN users must immediately suspend the use of Removable Secondary Storage Media Devices, such as memory sticks, thumb drives and camera flash memory cards on all classified and unclassified Marine Corps networks.

“What has happened is that there is a virus that has been spread through these types of mediums — the small ones that you move from machine to machine and share from person to person — and because of the virus, these have been a cause of concern on the MCEN,” said Shirley Russell, the information assurance manager for the Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command’s G-6. “So for the time being, until they can come up with a fix for this virus, they just don’t want to take any chances and they want all that media pulled off immediately.”

According to the reference, RSSMDs are storage media devices that can be connected to a workstation or other computing devices via cable, Universal Serial Bus [USB], Thumb Drives, Firewire [IEEE 1394] or Personal Computer Memory Card International Association devices. Examples include, but are not limited to: pen drives, flash media, memory cards, smart media devices, memory sticks and jump drives.
This direction will remain in effect until further notice and is applicable to all Marine Corps networks, according to Rey Espinoza, a network administrator with MAGTFTC’s G-6.

“This is for any NMCI [Navy Marine Corps Intranet], any Legacy or any stand alone machine — if it is a government computer, these devices are not to be put into that machine, period,” he said. “Right now, this will remain in effect until further notice, as far as flash drives and that type of media are concerned.”
As for the use of external hard drives, if the system was plugged in prior to the directive it may remain connected to the computer, and must not be disconnected and reconnected or used to transfer any data from another source.

Russell said that every user agrees to be monitored and therefore consents to being checked for use of such devices.

“The Marine Corps Networks Operations Security Center have the capability to scan the network and can take a look at each and every machine, this is why when you log on, that warning screen says that you can be monitored.”

If a user is found to be using a RSSMD, appropriate action will be taken, according to Espinoza.
“If that USB device or flash drive is connected to any computer on a Marine Corps network at the time that a scan is performed, it will be identified,” he explained. “If it’s caught during a scan, that user’s machine will be confiscated and their account will be disabled and the user will be subject to any action that will be taken after that.”

For those users who use such devices for mission critical files, there are ways around using any RSSMDs.
“We’re going to set up four stations in the classroom at building 1527 to have all the information system coordinators and the terminal area security officers gather any thumb and flash drives in their area to take off any mission critical files and transfer them to CDs,” Russell said.

CDs, as of now, are the only acceptable form of transferable media storage.

Any questions about the directive should be directed to local command Information Assurance Manager or G-6 representative.

Ellie