Lawsuit uncovers interior department network security holes
Monday, April 6, 2009
Attorneys representing Native Americans in a lawsuit against the US Interior Department have disclosed a report highlighting holes in the department's network security.
Former interior department inspector general Earl Devaney, who now acts as chairman of President Obama's stimulus spending oversight board, wrote a report in May 2008 that attorneys say contradicts recent statements by department officials regarding IT security to protect sensitive information, Nextgov reported.
The report was included in a notice filed in US District Court last week by lawyers representing American Indians in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the interior department over handling of tribal lands, according to Nextgov.
The report said IT management "is ineffective, costly, wasteful and lacks accountability" and "reform is required to correct deficiencies in the department's IT program," Nextgov reported.
In January 2008, an analysis by the CIO of the department discovered that 35 percent of all traffic leaving the department's networks was bound for computers in foreign countries, including China, Vietnam and Russia.
"It is unfathomable anyone could give assurance the department's network is secure," Devaney wrote, according to the Washington Post.
In December 2001, the department was ordered to disconnect networks from the internet that had access to Indian trust data managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Nextgov reported.
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