There has been a great deal of concern that Einstein 3--the next generation intrusion detection and prevention system for civilian government networks--may end up causing widespread invasion of personal privacy.

Phil Reitinger, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deputy undersecretary, told reporters last week that the department has no intention of reading contents of emails or other communications. The main concern, he said, is whether electronic communications entering the networks contain viruses or other attack signatures.

"The intention is to look for attack signatures; things that indicate an attack. So, for example, if a virus is coming in you would want to see the pattern of bits that indicates a virus or worm is coming in," Reitinger said. "You are looking for specific indicators of attack, not the contents of people's email."

Reitinger added that the Einstein system will use automated signature analysis, and he gave assurances that "no person would look at any particular piece of data unless a signature was matched and indicated that an attack was in progress." Einstein, he said, is a work in progress, with the technology still to be determined and tested.

For more on Einstein:
- see this nextgov.com article

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