Official says Einstein security system won't read e-mails

Although a sophisticated system called Einstein 3 is in development to detect and prevent electronic attacks on federal civilian networks, a senior Homeland Security official gave assurances Wednesday that the department has no intention of reading contents of e-mails or other communications. Instead, the department wants to have the system determine whether electronic communications entering the networks contain viruses or other attack signatures, the official said. Einstein 3 is expected to deal solely with federal civilian networks. The Defense Department is responsible for protecting military networks. But so far, Homeland Security officials have provided little information publicly about the reach of Einstein 3, stoking concerns by privacy and civil rights groups that the government might ultimately intend to read and store the contents of electronic communications produced by US citizens. "The intention is not to look at the contents of e-mail," Phil Reitinger, deputy undersecretary for the department's National Protection and Programs Directorate, said in an interview with reporters. "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 e-mail." "We use automated signature analysis," he added. "No person would look at any particular piece of data unless a signature was matched and indicated that an attack was in progress."