US NRC SECURITY SYSTEM ACHIEVES "A" RATING Government Computer News (GCN) daily news -- federal, state and local government technology; To make the grade, NRC takes a personal approachTo make the grade, NRC takes a personal approach

By Richard W. Walker
GCN Staff

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s systems have a big, red bull’s-eye on them.

Every day, the agency’s systems face about 500 attempts at reconnaissance and 100 attempted denial-of-service attacks, CIO Ellis Merschoff said.

And every day, NRC’s security systems strip out roughly 300 suspicious e-mail attachments and isolate about 10 virus occurrences, he added.

Last year, the agency reported more than 67,000 security incidents to the Federal Computer Incident Response Center.

It’s no wonder then that officials at the commission’s headquarters relentlessly hammer away about the importance of IT security awareness. The word to NRC’s 3,000 employees—who exchange about 100,000 e-mail messages a day and receive another 40,000 via the Internet—is clear and unequivocal: You’re accountable.

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