[Dataloss] Feds Often Clueless After Data Losses

[security curmudgeon]

Courtesy of InfoSec News <alerts at infosecnews.org>


http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=193400392

By Gregg Keizer
TechWeb News
Oct 18, 2006

Federal agencies not only regularly lose personal identity data, but don't 
even always know what they've lost or how many Americans are affected, a 
recently-released House report claimed.

According to the report issued by the House Government Reform Committee, 
which is chaired by Tom Davis (R-Va.), all 19 federal departments and 
agencies from which data was requested had lost or compromised personal 
information in the three-and-a-half years since January 2003. Some of the 
breaches were losses, others were the result of theft.

In August 2006, for example, a Department of Defense laptop that contained 
personal information on 30,000 Navy applicants and prospects fell of a 
motorcycle driven by a recruiter. "The recruiter returned to the scene and 
was told by a road side worker that a car had stopped and picked up the 
bag," the report said.

Davis's report was prompted by the May theft of a Veterans Affairs laptop 
and external hard drive that had the personal information of some 26.5 
million veterans and active duty military personnel. The hardware was 
recovered about two months later; an FBI analysis concluded that none of 
the confidential information had been accessed on the notebook and drive.

"I commend Davis for asking agencies to come forward with this 
information," said Paul Kurtz, executive director of the Cyber Security 
Industry Alliance (CSIA), an industry advocacy group that counts Citrix, 
McAfee, RSA, and Symantec as members. "It was a necessary step and a 
positive move."

The Davis report concluded that data loss is a government-wide problem. 
"This is not restricted to the Department of Veteran Affairs or any other 
single agency," the report stated. More troublesome, however, was the fact 
that in many cases, agencies "do not know what information has been lost 
or how many individuals could be impacted."

"That's not surprising," said Kurtz. "But it does underscore the gravity 
of the situation. Government is simply not giving this the attention it 
needs."

Although Congress pondered several data breach bills in the just-concluded 
session, none were passed. Kurtz, who in the past has been critical of the 
low priority the issue was given, continued to hammer at legislators.

"People's sensitive information must be secured across federal agencies. 
Users are confused. They hear from the private sector, such as brokerage 
houses, that their information is secure, but then find out it's not 
secure in other places, like the government. There needs to be a set of 
common standards."

Still, Kurtz hasn't given up on the idea of national data breach and 
notification bill passing. "If I was a betting man, I'll take the bet 
[that Congress will pass something next session]. But that's because it's 
two years we're talking about."

In fact, Congress came close to putting something on the President's desk 
in the 190th Congress. "This was in the top 10, but not in the top 5," 
Kurtz said. "There is a recognition and concern that this is a real 
problem. But it will take a lot of work."

That shouldn't bowl over anyone who has followed the federal government's 
abysmal record in IT security. In the most recent security report card 
issued by Congress, the government as a whole pulled a dismal "D+". Eight 
of the 24 departments and agencies graded were given an "F".

"There's definitely a connection between the grades and data losses," said 
Kurtz.

The House report can be downloaded from here as a 15-page PDF file. 
http://reform.house.gov/UploadedFiles/Agency%20Breach%20Summary%20Final%20(3).pdf