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Originally Posted by crich70
That sounds a bit messed up since at least some of those Gov. computers likely hold the personal information of everyday people. I mean for example Social Security deals with the personal data on the citizens so I can't see how they could argue that they don't have a responsibility to let people know that their data has been compromised by a hacker.
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While I can't quote the entire AP article because of copyright concerns, here are a few highlights:
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CYBERATTACKS IN U.S. GETTING OUT OF HAND
Even as billions are spent to protect federal data, the government still tussles with its biggest weakness – its own employees.
By Martha Mendoza
The Associated Press
A $10 BILLION-A-YEAR EFFORT to protect sensitive government data, from military secrets to Social Security numbers, is struggling to keep pace with an increasing number of cyberattacks and is unwittingly being undermined by federal employees and contractors.
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At a time when intelligence officials say cybersecurity trumps terrorism as the No. 1 threat to the U.S. – and when breaches at businesses such as Home Depot and Target focus attention on data security – the federal government isn’t required to publicize its own data losses.
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[A]ttackers have always found a way in, exposing tens of millions of sensitive and private records that include employee usernames and passwords and veterans’ medical files.
From 2009 to 2013, the number of reported breaches just on federal computer networks – the .gov and .mils – rose to 46,605 from 26,942, according to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team. Last year, US-CERT responded to 228,700 cyberincidents involving federal agencies, companies that run critical infrastructure and contract partners. That’s more than double the incidents in 2009.
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