Is it just us or does it seem that for the last 40-50 years governments are becoming increasingly, utterly clueless? OK, you’re right — we don’t know jack about other governments, so we will confine our comments to the government we know and love the best — the U.S. government. We are qualified to comment on the U.S. government because we’re both old and we’ve both lived in the U.S.A. for many decades — plus we’ve paid tens of thousands of dollars in tax dollars which support the buffoons who run things — heck, we can’t even vote for these folks — they are actually hired by the folks somebody voted for.
If you want to sleep well, keep on reading. If you live outside the U.S.A., please don’t laugh too loudly… it’s not polite!
Government Passwords Are Incredibly Easy to Hack
Some of the federal government’s most sensitive data are protected by passwords that wouldn’t pass muster for even the most basic civilian email account, according to a new congressional report.
Passwords like “password,” “qwerty,” and users’ names have left Homeland Security Department data vulnerable, says a report released Tuesday by the Republican staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
And the password fiasco, the report says, is only the tip of the iceberg—plenty of other agencies have lost sensitive data as well.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission left nuclear-plant security details on a shared drive with no protection. Hackers swiped Information on the nation’s dams—including their weaknesses and catastrophic potential if breached—from an Army Corps of Engineers database.
All that’s too much for Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, the panel’s top Republican. “Weaknesses in the federal government’s own cybersecurity have put at risk the electrical grid, our financial markets, our emergency-response systems, and our citizens’ personal information,” he said.
So far, the security failings have been more comedic than catastrophic (in one instance, hackers used the Emergency Broadcast System to warn TV viewers of a zombie outbreak). But the report warned we may not be so lucky in the future—and the problem appears to be widespread…
Read the rest of this article here.
“NRC spokesman Eliot Brenner said many of that agency’s safety issues have already been addressed. All 44 security recommendations in reports cited by the committee have been closed or resolved pending final implementation.”
Somehow that doesn’t give me any reassurances. This stuff should have never happened in the first place. “44 security recommendations?” Amazing!! Sounds no better than Java or Windows Updates and screw ups.
Wasn’t it only 2-3 years ago that workers in “sensitive” areas of the Pentagon were going in and out of the building with flashdrives in their pockets and briefcases?