A Transportation Security Administration invention that automates what was a 15-step process for redacting sensitive information from public documents is now a popular tool in the intelligence community, the agency's chief information officer says.
This week a cybersecurity professional association honored TSA CIO Emma Garrison-Alexander for spearheading the creation of the computer program, an enhancement of Adobe's redaction toolbar.
"It's extremely important that we do not expose sensitive data intentionally or unintentionally," Garrison-Alexander said in an interview, after receiving a U.S. Government Information Security Leadership Award from (ISC)2 on Tuesday night. "The redaction tool gave us a level of assurance that the information is really redacted . . . Now it's available not just to government, but to anyone anywhere Adobe is used."
In 2009, the agency attracted sneers when it accidentally leaked confidential information in a manual detailing who to pull aside for extra screening at airports. Staff compiling a public version of the procedures failed to properly cut the sensitive security information before releasing the file.
Today, the intelligence community is using the tool on classified information. Garrison-Alexander said the technology could help agents comply with this month's executive order directing departments to tighten controls on classified computer networks without sacrificing interagency collaboration. The policy was prompted by allegations that a military insider was responsible for transferring troves of confidential Defense and State department files to the anti-secrets website WikiLeaks.
MORE HERE - http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20111021_6752.php
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