Are Government Computers Soft Targets?

A congressional House subcommittee put a series of tough questions to the White House's top cyber security officials about the seeming slipshod manner with which the administration appears to be protecting the government's IT infrastructure.

The House Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census grilled Karen Evans, the president's electronic government and IT advisor, reported the Government Executive last week in a story by William New entitled: "Top Administration Cyber security Officials Face Scrutiny".

"The threat is serious, the vulnerabilities are extensive, and the time for action is now," the Republican representative and chairman of the committee was quoted as saying. "I am still concerned that we are collectively not moving fast enough to protect the American people and the US economy from very real threats that exist today."

The story reports that the committee asked those before it to explain why the White House had cut funding for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a Congressionally-established IT security body formed in 2002 to track security issues with government computers.

Also speaking before the committee was an official from the DHS' national cyber security division, who reported the speedy progress of the government's response to mounting cyber threats.

To read the full version of the story, visit: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0604/060204tdpm1.htm.