Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) released a 19-page report last week. It details significant breaches at federal agencies. Here are a few examples:
- Last January, hackers gained access to computers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They downloaded non-public information about the nation's 85,000 dams. - Last February, hackers broke into the FCC's Emergency Broadcast System. They posted fake messages and caused TV stations in Michigan, Montana, and North Dakota to broadcast zombie attack warnings. - Last March, hackers breached web servers that belong to NIST. Those servers keep a log of the government's known software vulnerabilities.
Coburn says those examples -- and others -- underscore the need for more federal involvement to protect the nation's critical infrastructure.
Alan Paller, founder and research director at the SANS Institute, discussed the issue with Government Matters.