The Department of Homeland Security is risking national security by illegally maintaining 136 "sensitive but unclassified," "Secret," and "Top Secret" systems with "expired authorities to operate", according to an audit released Thursday by the office of the inspector general. Because these databases do not have current "authorities to operate (ATOs)", DHS "cannot ensure that its systems are properly secured to protect sensitive information stored and processed in them," the inspector general said. Maybe the department should change its name to the Department of Homeland Insecurity.
The release of the audit confirms and underscores what many have long suspected: by creating databases which house information on the communications, activities, relationships, browsing histories, and other personal information of American citizens and businesses, government agencies create a security risk where there is a single point for hackers — private and government — to focus. As this writer said about China's hacking of the databases at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM):
It's a little like the trick-or-treating strategy employed by street bullies: Rather than do the hard work of going door-to-door collecting the loot, let someone else do it for you and then simply steal it from them. With U.S. government three-letter agencies conducting intrusive surveillance on the American people, the shortest path to that data is to hack those databases and steal it. And it appears this is exactly what China is doing. This is precisely what groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation have warned about as part of their opposition to the blanket surveillance conducted by these overreaching agencies.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/item/22001-inspector-general-dhs-risks-national-security
The release of the audit confirms and underscores what many have long suspected: by creating databases which house information on the communications, activities, relationships, browsing histories, and other personal information of American citizens and businesses, government agencies create a security risk where there is a single point for hackers — private and government — to focus. As this writer said about China's hacking of the databases at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM):
It's a little like the trick-or-treating strategy employed by street bullies: Rather than do the hard work of going door-to-door collecting the loot, let someone else do it for you and then simply steal it from them. With U.S. government three-letter agencies conducting intrusive surveillance on the American people, the shortest path to that data is to hack those databases and steal it. And it appears this is exactly what China is doing. This is precisely what groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation have warned about as part of their opposition to the blanket surveillance conducted by these overreaching agencies.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/item/22001-inspector-general-dhs-risks-national-security
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