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People look to government officials and offices to protect and serve, but it doesn't seem those supposedly in charge of safeguarding the general public are prepared to stop the plethora of online data security threats currently facing the American public.
People look to government officials and offices to protect and serve, but it doesn't seem those supposedly in charge of safeguarding the general public are prepared to stop the plethora of online data security threats currently facing the American public. Action is being proposed to increase federal security readiness, both for an attack against government data as well as to uphold private sector data security.
Increased reliance on the cloud has given some a false sense of security, but as reports have shown, the instance of data theft has not declined significantly in recent years. In fact, while the number of attacks may have gone down slightly, the amount of information and value of that data has increased, as hackers find new, more sophisticated ways of harvesting files. To combat these problems, storage and internet providers are coming up with enhanced encryption and pushing users to build stronger passcodes, but not everyone is heeding the message. Instead, the U.S. government is bulking up its online threat detection and blocking methods to better serve American users.
Taking action for privacy
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the federa watchdog arm of the U.S. Congress, which looks at federal programs and departments to check for compliance and measure success, has taken a hard line with data protection protocols from the top down in a recent report.
The GAO is calling for new federal guidelines and requirements of users, providers and government offices to safeguard information for private individuals and businesses alike. Federal offices and public officials are also using these cloud and online resources, the GAO contests, meaning a blanket security upgrade is essential to protect everyone universally. Specifically, the GAO wants the outdated Privacy Act to be brought into the 21st century by creating federal regulations on data security online, overseeing Internet activity and creating a unified document for web users to instruct them on how and why they need to protect their information.
Increasing safety measures
The purpose of boosting the reach of federal agencies with the Privacy Act is to keep private information where it belongs, even if it may feel like the oversight committee is asking for a broader reach for government agencies into that same information. InformationWeek reported that Greg Wilshusen, the director of the GAO, has called for regulations as to how agencies and private companies monitor and collect personal data as well. That would mean even though higher standards of data protection were being enforced online, no excess of power would be taking place.
Daniel Akaka, representative from Hawaii, also called on the U.S. government to take action for data security, according to PC Advisor. Akaka stated that his own information had been compromised not long ago because of a lack of security observance within the Thrift Savings federal retirement program. This instance affected more than 100,000 federal workers, potentially harming not only their current information portfolios, but also putting their retirement and 401(k) accounts at risk, according to CIO. While no action has been taken with the leaked data yet, the problem remains that the system had been easily compromised.
"We need to go back and redouble our efforts," said Greg Long of the Federal Retirement Thrift Board. "We feel we that we have been focused on IT security, but this is a wake-up call. We know that there are sophisticated attackers out there."
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Source: http://www.simplysecurity.com/2012/08/28/safety-measures-lacking-all-the-way-to-the-federal-level/
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