Report: U.S. Computers Open to Hackers
A new GAO report claims that many of the nation's business secrets, lodged at the U.S. Commerce Department, are open to computer hackers. Senior officials of the U.S. Commerce Department go before Washington lawmakers Friday as a new government report details that the nation's business secrets are open to computer hackers.
A new General Accounting Office (GAO) report says investigators were able to gain Internet access to Commerce Department computer systems, and that the government division is unable to detect outside intruders.
The GAO will tell Congress that hackers could read and alter confidential business information. Other problems included using the word "password" for system access, misconfigured functions, and abuse of top-level security clearances.
Task Force Planned
The Commerce Department plans to create a task force to study security problems and is shaking up its technology division, says Commerce deputy secretary Samuel W. Bodman in written testimony to be delivered before the House Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.
Subcommittee chairman James Greenwood (R-Pennsylvania) said the Clinton administration was to blame for the security failure.
"It is appalling that after years of nicely packaged Clinton-era cyber-security initiatives we continue to find such pervasive security weaknesses at nearly every agency our committee and others have examined," Greenwood said in a prepared statement.
Clinton Security Guidelines
Last year, former President Clinton signed the Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA), setting network security guidelines for federal agencies.
Greenwood said he was encouraged by the Commerce Department's announced steps for improving the security of government information.
Earlier this year, Greenwood called for 15 federal agencies to review their security. At an April hearing by the U.S. House Oversight Committee, Greenwood said he had gotten little response.
Earlier Attacks Reported
A witness from the Commerce Department appeared at the earlier hearing, where lawmakers heard that 32 U.S. agencies were attacked last year. Defense Department officials revealed at the time that 99 percent of assaults on Pentagon computers had succeeded, using existing security holes that had been left uncorrected.
Rep. W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-Louisiana), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said that while there have been some security improvements, federal agencies are "just treading water."
Sallie McDonald, assistant commissioner for the General Services Administration's Office of Information Assurance and Critical Infrastructure, said earlier that nearly 80 percent of federal computer intrusions slip by undetected and unreported.
A number of other federal agencies have reported security problems. Earlier this year, the GAO reported that it gained access in 2000 to tax returns filed electronically with the Internal Revenue Service.
Other targets for security scrutiny include the Interior Department, Veterans Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency and the Health and Human Services agency.
Poor Security the Rule
"Poor information security is the rule, not the exception," said the GAO's Jack Brock, Jr. After giving federal agencies a failing grade on computer security, the GAO called for a federal chief information officer (CIO).
"I believe very strongly that there needs to be a federal CIO to address information management vulnerabilities across agencies," said Brock.
Those scheduled to testify before the subcommittee include Bodman, as well as Commerce Department inspector general Johnnie Frazier, the department's acting CIO Thomas Pyke, and the GAO's Robert Dacey.
