DHS Earns another “F” on Cybersecurity Report Card

For the third straight year, the Department of Homeland Security has earned an “F” from the government in its annual computer security report card released late last week.

In an article on the CNET News.com website, Anne Broache says the House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform handed out the failing grade to the DHS, the agency that has principal responsibility for the nation’s cybersecurity.

But the DHS isn’t alone in its dismal performance, Broache says. “Of the 24 departments on the scorecard, seven others, including Energy, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, State, and Defense, also received failing marks for 2005,” she says. “The scores for both Defense and State had hovered above passing – at D and D+, respectively – in 2004. The overall grade across all government agencies was D+, unchanged from last year.”

While the grades aren’t exactly a surprise, they are still “appalling,” Gene Spafford, a Purdue University computer science professor told Broache. “Despite all the rhetoric from government officials about preparedness and defense against those who would harm the U.S., it is clear that they still don't ‘get it’ about IT security,” he told her.