Officials say agency real-time surveillance not likely this year

Many agencies will not be able to submit summaries of network threats based on real-time surveillance by the Nov. 15 deadline for reporting on security management to the White House, according to federal officials.

The Obama administration in April announced that agencies this fall must use automated security monitoring tools for transmitting data on computer inventories, security incidents and other indicators to a secure online inbox called Cyberscope. Continuous reporting is expected to reduce the time and cost of complying with the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act, a law critics say concentrates too much on paperwork documenting protocols, and not enough on executing them. But many agencies are not there yet. "My bet is it won't be done in the next year," said James A. Lewis, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies who researches cybersecurity. He said the Office of Management and Budget eventually might have to issue new rules such as, "You can't spend any money on IT until you put this stuff in place," to enforce real-time monitoring