The U.S. government is changing its offense against hack attacks. The Office of Management and Budget is telling agencies to deploy a standard set of security tools and processes on all of their Internet connections.

That's a shift from the previous policy of focusing on consolidating external Internet connections that civilian agencies operate. It's taking place because the Obama administration is focusing more on security controls than on network consolidation.

"The new administration is less concerned with the number, and more concerned about getting them protected," Diana Gowen, senior vice president of Qwest Government Services, told Networkworld. Plenty of Internet connections are being deployed, she said. Gowen pointed to the Defense Department, which has an ongoing procurement to purchase more than 4,000 Internet connections worldwide.

"So clearly the focus isn't on consolidation."

Bill White, vice president of federal sales at Sprint, said that the private sector originally thought there would be significant consolidation. "At the end of the day, I think there still will be," he said. "But I think the agencies are becoming more realistic and flexible about consolidation."

For more on Internet security:
- see this Networkworld article