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NATO Classified Cloud Platform Compromised

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Re: NATO Classified Cloud Platform Compromised

#111

Post by sandworm101 »

hereforphone wrote: post #102
sandworm101 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the office where you worked. In the office where I work there are zero. Classification levels don't really matter. It is about the nature of the information. Some is simply never shared with non-employees. Some isn't shared with people not wearing uniforms. Well, excepting one or two non-uniforms but they are still government employees.

I was military first then worked for defense contractors for a decade or so. In the areas I worked (several countries including war zones), at the levels I worked (secret, TS/SCI), in the agencies I worked with (DoD, special operations groups, intelligence organizations), I did not experience what you're claiming.

If you were American and in war zones then you were probably handling operational intelligence rather than strategic.

Re: NATO Classified Cloud Platform Compromised

#112

Post by QuarterReptile »

noobermin wrote: post #34
flatline wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nearly everyone who does real work like this for the government is a contractor anymore. The government employees manage the contracts.

It really is one of the dumbest things in government work. Politicians want to "shrink government" so they don't want many actual employees that would probably be well paid, stable, but someone needs to do the work. Thus, enter the I-too-want-to-shrink-the-government politicians who agree but then farm it out to contractors, some whom they might work for one day (or even come from in some cases in the US!). And so th…

Let me offer an alternative version of why people take the presumably-government roles and do them as private contractors: avoidance of byzantine requirements and cynical implementations of laws aimed at preventing fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA). People drastically overestimate FWA because they commonly describe or conceive as FWA government projects which they don't like. A couple examples:

It's relatively hard to get any work done at my job during the month of April, because about half the building is 85-88F (in a temperate mid-atlantic climate). That means that people will work in other cooler offices (problem when no one carries a cell phone) or just find reasons to leave early. I used to battle about this, but then I learned that it was for the unmovable ideal of economizing. Unfortunately, I'm a victim of economizing a 1970s building with huge plate glass windows that don't open.

Second example:office supplies. A supervisor asks me to have a room set up for a meeting. After determining that what I need is not kept on hand, I try to buy them through the government catalog as I'm supposed to. My internet connection fails, so I reboot my desktop (roughly 20-30 minutes). When it fails again, I lament that I probably have a dozen faster computers at home, ranging from 10 year old tablets to a raspberry pi, and with that I take the opportunity to step away from my office (low 80s in the summer, when this takes place, because the AC can't keep up.) I go down to my car where I can use my own air conditioning and my phone to look at the same website. The supplies aren't on the catalog, so I just order them for $10 on Amazon. Fast forward one week, when my supervisor asks how I have it ready so soon, and I get criticized for buying the supplies outside of the supply system with my own money. I place too high a value on my sanity, apparently.

Edit: I should mention that most people at this office are paid quite well relative to the area

Re: NATO Classified Cloud Platform Compromised

#113

Post by charlysl »

autosharp wrote: post #50
noobermin wrote: post #33

Reading the start of this article reminded me of a somewhat unrelated thing I saw: I remember seeing in "tech influencer" youtube video on how "Japan hasn't kept up with the west" when it comes to IT. Not to be super orientalist or whatever and assume Japan is doing better the US in IT, but what should they do instead, go the US route and put every thing on the cloud? Is that better ? I couldn't help it, it's literal…

System error: Japan cybersecurity minister admits he has never used a computer[0] And did not know what to do with a USB. This person was 50 in the year 2000, has clearly given up being part of or informed about modern society, and is made minister of cyber security. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/15/japan-cyber-se...

well, that's the only way to never get pwned

Re: NATO Classified Cloud Platform Compromised

#114

Post by eru »

jvanderbot wrote: post #106
eru wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Profit is a small part of costs. See https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost... I'm not so sure about incentives. The incentives aren't necessarily great in either situation. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice

"Overhead" is a large part of costs, and profit is often contractually limited in government contracts. But much of the profit is hidden in the markup, which can sometimes be 50%, meaning you pay $1.50 for $1.00 of supplies, labor, etc.

Yes, though government departments also have overhead.

Re: NATO Classified Cloud Platform Compromised

#115

Post by breakingcups »

vishnugupta wrote: post #28
spaniard89277 wrote: post #4

Everis is the typical meat grinder, and it is known for that in Spain. Now, just as I'm writing this I'm sure someome from Everis will chime in to say he gets paid handsomely and works for amazing projects. But everyone I've known working for Everis wants to die. And if such project had to land in Spain for political reasons, there are plenty of companies capable on taking such project with way better prospects.

I had a good LOL seeing this[1]. Those Land/Air/Maritime icons look very legit. [1] https://imgur.com/Hcwayqq

I have that icon pack, it's from the early 2000's, if not earlier.

Re: NATO Classified Cloud Platform Compromised

#116

Post by chha »

eru wrote: post #78
chha wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what you're trying to say with this. The Apollo program was run by NASA, who had lots of government employees, but at the same time all the hardware and much of the software was built by contractors. The Apollo program was behind schedule and over budget for most of the project period. NASA originally estimated the cost to somewhere between 7 and 12 billion USD; NASA Administrator increased this to 20 billio…

Believe it or not, the Space Shuttle was an even worse disaster in terms of bang for buck.

I know, and they also failed on the primary goal of the project.

Re: NATO Classified Cloud Platform Compromised

#117

Post by [deleted] »

chha wrote: post #73
noobermin wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

Not sure what you're trying to say with this. The Apollo program was run by NASA, who had lots of government employees, but at the same time all the hardware and much of the software was built by contractors. The Apollo program was behind schedule and over budget for most of the project period. NASA originally estimated the cost to somewhere between 7 and 12 billion USD; NASA Administrator increased this to 20 billio…

[deleted]

Re: NATO Classified Cloud Platform Compromised

#118

Post by noobermin »

QuarterReptile wrote: post #112
noobermin wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really is one of the dumbest things in government work. Politicians want to "shrink government" so they don't want many actual employees that would probably be well paid, stable, but someone needs to do the work. Thus, enter the I-too-want-to-shrink-the-government politicians who agree but then farm it out to contractors, some whom they might work for one day (or even come from in some cases in the US!). And so th…

Let me offer an alternative version of why people take the presumably-government roles and do them as private contractors: avoidance of byzantine requirements and cynical implementations of laws aimed at preventing fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA). People drastically overestimate FWA because they commonly describe or conceive as FWA government projects which they don't like. A couple examples: It's relatively hard to ge…

This isn't an alternative version, this is what I mean about the horrible requirements which are aimed at FWA but just off-loading it to a contractor doesn't make it disappear.

Re: NATO Classified Cloud Platform Compromised

#119

Post by iagovar »

anthk wrote: post #89
spaniard89277 wrote: post #4

Everis is the typical meat grinder, and it is known for that in Spain. Now, just as I'm writing this I'm sure someome from Everis will chime in to say he gets paid handsomely and works for amazing projects. But everyone I've known working for Everis wants to die. And if such project had to land in Spain for political reasons, there are plenty of companies capable on taking such project with way better prospects.

Add Indra to the list.

IMO this is the kind of project for GMV.

Re: NATO Classified Cloud Platform Compromised

#120

Post by lanbanger »

spaniard89277 wrote: post #4

Everis is the typical meat grinder, and it is known for that in Spain. Now, just as I'm writing this I'm sure someome from Everis will chime in to say he gets paid handsomely and works for amazing projects. But everyone I've known working for Everis wants to die. And if such project had to land in Spain for political reasons, there are plenty of companies capable on taking such project with way better prospects.

I worked as an outside consultant with a team at Everis. It was indeed a meat-grinder of a firm. The final week I was there we did a minimum of 15 hours a day, and I think the longest was 19 or something insane.
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