White House Asks Federal Authorities To Increase Internet Stomach Security Efforts

White House. (Wikimedia Commons/Matt H. Wade)

JAKARTA - The White House said on Tuesday federal authorities should increase internet confidence security on the grid, in the face of concerns raised by US officials about China's ability to divert internet traffic.

The Office of the National Cyber Director of the White House in a report outlined a series of efforts aimed at addressing key security vulnerabilities related to the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) which is the center of the internet's global information loss system.

The office said federal agencies should implement inflatable security on their networks and seek to require service providers contracted by the US Government to use the current commercially viable internet mobile security technology.

"Traffic can be diverted accidentally or intentionally, which can expose personal information; enabling state-level theft, extortion and espionage; disrupting important security transactions; and disrupting critical infrastructure operations," the report said.

The internet consists of more than 70,000 networks that are interconnected and BGP is used to exchange information to reduce traffic.

The White House report said, "BGP's original design properties do not adequately address the current threat and resilience requirements of the internet ecosystem."

In June, the Federal Communications Commission submitted a proposal to increase BGP security, after US agencies said China Telecom opened a newly tabulated BGP vulnerability, "for misdirecting US internet traffic on at least six occasions."

The Department of Defense and Justice said BGP gave China "an opportunity to disrupt, arrest, inspect and change US traffic."

FCC chairman Jessica Rosenworcel said in June, "This BGP climb could expose personal information, enabling state-level theft, extortion and espionage."

In April, the FCC said it ordered Chinese Telecom units in the US, China Unicom, China Mobile and telecommunications company China Pacific Networks and its wholly-owned subsidiary ComNet to halt fixed or mobile broadband internet operations in the US.

The Commission has previously banned the Chinese companies from providing telecommunications services, citing national security concerns.

The FCC previously also banned approval of new telecommunications equipment from Huawei Technologies and ZTE, saying the equipment poses an "unacceptable risk" to US national security.