Fergie's Tech Blog

Auditors hack Interior's financial and personal data -- again

Aliya Sternstein writes in FCW.com:

Lapses in the Interior Department's oversight allowed government-hired hackers to infiltrate the agency’s systems, according to a Sept. 6 Interior memo.

Since November 2004, Interior’s inspector general has been independently testing the department’s network security.

“Due to vulnerabilities in several bureaus’ information technology systems, [Interior] internal networks, as a whole, are vulnerable to unauthorized access,” Earl Devaney, Interior’s IG, wrote in his most recent assessment.

The agency has not welcomed the IG's findings so far, Devaney said. “Rather than simply accepting the results of our testing and promptly addressing the underlying vulnerabilities, the department and bureaus have, to date, expended considerable time and energy debating our findings, challenging our methodology and impugning the credentials and integrity of our staff and contractors," he wrote.

Most recently, IG employees hacked National Park Service (NPS) systems and personal and financial data on National Business Center (NBC) systems -- again. They had broken into the center’s systems last spring.

posted by Fergie @ 9/30/2005 02:54:00 PM