Feds order ca.gov shut down - Minor web attack

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Officials are questioning how a relatively minor attack on a local government Web site in California resulted in a federal order Tuesday to cut off access to thousands of Web sites and e-mail access to more than 10,000 California employees - including police and emergency workers.

Federal officials were at a loss to explain how the Internet attack - which redirected users of a Marin County transportation authority Web site to one with pornography - cascaded into a decision to suspend all use of Web sites with the ca.gov domain name.

A state spokesman says California officials convinced federal officials to reverse course and help restore access to the Web sites within a couple of hours.

A government spokeswoman says federal officials are reviewing the incident.

Editor: I find this very troubling from a States rights perspective.

How does the federal government have the authority to shut down a State Government web site? Is this written into law? What if a State posts information that the Federal government does not like? do they have censure rights too?

Another story on this situation:

Agency Apologizes For Suspending State Web Sites

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The federal agency that oversees government Web sites apologized Thursday for ordering the shutdown of thousands of California government sites and e-mail systems for more than 10,000 state employees.

The U.S. General Services Administration suspended the state's domain name Tuesday in response to a relatively minor Internet attack on a Marin County transportation authority Web site.
The attack redirected visitors to a site with pornography.Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office called the suspension of the ca.gov domain name an overreaction. It put e-mail systems for police, emergency workers and thousands of others at risk. Internet security watchdogs also questioned why the federal government's action was so drastic.
The General Services Administration ordered the suspension because the breach had the potential to expose children to pornography but has since revised its policy, said Jennifer Millikin, the agency's deputy communications director."GSA recognizes there must be a balance between protecting citizens while not, at the same time, adversely affecting government's ability to serve citizens via the Internet," she wrote in an e-mail statement. "We apologize for any inconvenience to the citizens of California."Milliken said the agency was working on ways to more precisely eliminate offending Web sites in the event of future attacks.The federal suspension of its domain name prompted California to activate its emergency operations center for technology failures. Had the order not been reversed, it would have rippled through the Internet, cutting off access to virtually every state, county and local government Web site in California.As it was, California persuaded federal officials to reverse course and restore access within hours.