Federal Agencies’ Cybersecurity Failures Leaving Americans’ Personal Information at Risk
U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tom Carper (D-DE) published a report that documents the failure of eight federal agencies, over the course of two administrations, to address vulnerabilities in their IT infrastructure, leaving Americans’ sensitive and personal information unsafe and vulnerable to theft.
The Subcommittee reviewed 10 years of Inspectors General reports on compliance with federal information security standards for the Department of Homeland Security and seven other federal agencies: (1) the Department of State; (2) the Department of Transportation; (3) the Department of Housing and Urban Development; (4) the Department of Agriculture; (5) the Department of Health and Human Services; (6) the Department of Education; and (7) the Social Security Administration. These seven agencies were cited by OMB as rating the lowest with regard to cybersecurity practices. The report details how each of these agencies failed to comply with basic cybersecurity protocols. It also includes a number of recommendations to address those failures.