Dr. Coburn on DHS cybersecurity

Senator Tom Coburn

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the following statement today on a new Inspector General report revealing serious gaps in DHS’s own cybersecurity:

“This report shows major gaps in DHS’s own cybersecurity, including some of the most basic protections that would be obvious to any 13-year-old with a laptop.

"DHS doesn’t use strong authentication.  It relies on antiquated software that’s full of holes. Its components don’t report security incidents when they should. They don’t keep track of weaknesses when they’re found, and they don’t fix them in time to make a difference.

“President Obama has called on the private sector to improve its cybersecurity practices to ensure that our nation’s critical infrastructure is not vulnerable to an attack. DHS and other agencies must be held to at least the same standard.

“The fact is the federal government’s classified and unclassified networks are dangerously insecure, putting at risk not only U.S. national security, but the nation’s critical infrastructure and vast amounts of our citizens’ personally identifiable information.

“We spend billions of taxpayer dollars on federal information technology every year.  It is inexcusable to put the safety and security of our nation and its citizens at risk in this manner.”