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br> Government Computers Widely Hacked in 2000.
Date: Sunday, April 8th Source: Newsfactor
Despite strenuous efforts to thwart cybercriminals, as many 155 U.S. government computer systems fell prey to hackers last year, according to a broad review of IT security within government agencies.
"I think it would come as quite a surprise for most Americans to learn the extent to which these federal civilian agencies are the target of attacks by foreign and domestic sources bent on espionage or other malicious actions," Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana) said in a U.S. House Oversight and Investigations Committee hearing on Thursday.
During the course of 2000, cyber-attackers from within the United States and abroad struck the computer systems of 32 U.S. agencies, some of which contained personal data and classified research materials.
Warnings Heeded?
The findings come in the wake of repeated warnings issued to U.S. agencies by both government and outside auditors.
Rep. James Greenwood (R-Pennsylvania), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight subcommittee, ordered 15 separate U.S. agencies last month to review their security procedures and to ensure that they were in accord with federal standards. However, the congressman told the committee Thursday, few agencies had actually conducted security reviews.
"We are not surprised or pleased by what we are finding," Greenwood said at the hearing.
Last year, the committee and the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) directed media scrutiny toward the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was accused of opening itself up to frequent hacking.
Concern surrounding the security of government computer systems led to the signing of the Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA) by former President Clinton last October. The law establishes a strict set of network security guidelines for U.S. agencies to follow.
Threats Still Looming
Despite all efforts, however, the threat of cyber-attacks persists. Ronald Dick, director of the National Infrastructure Protection Center, said Thursday that the growing number of hackers, as well as the rise of state-sponsored cybercrime, has led to more than 100 open investigations of incidents involving government computer systems.
"We've been hearing a lot of very chilling testimony here," said Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colorado). "With all of this activity going on, I'm wondering why we haven't seen an incident of cyberterrorism yet."
Among the witnesses scheduled to appear at the hearings were representatives and security officials from the GAO, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Energy.
Also testifying before the committee was Tom Noonan, president and CEO of Internet Security Systems, Inc., who warned that hacking tools are so easy to find that "you don't have to have a high IQ in order to attack our government."
Pentagon News Promising
There has been some promising news on the government security front, however. Officials at the GAO announced last week that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), one of the most maligned government agencies as far as cyberattacks are concerned, has made several improvements to its cyber-defenses and reduced the rate of cybercrime against it.
"Over the past several years, DoD has taken a number of steps to improve incident response capabilities and enhance computer defensive capabilities across the department," GAO investigators said in the audit.
This positive evaluation comes just months after the Pentagon said the number of cyberattacks launched against its networks increased by 5 percent in 2000 over 1999 levels.
The DoD acknowledged, however, that 99 percent of the assaults succeeded due to known vulnerabilities, security gaps that could be easily patched, and poor security practices in general.
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