Another federal breach exposes employee records

Another federal breach exposes employee records

By Heather Greenfield, National Journal's Technology Daily
The Energy Department disclosed to Congress on Friday that it suffered a security breach from a hacker in September that compromised 1,500 personnel records.

The news broke just as a House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee was supposed to start a hearing on how secure Energy Department computers are in light of recently reported data breaches at the Internal Revenue Service and Veterans Affairs Department.

Kentucky Republican Ed Whitfield, chairman of the Subcommittee, said there is no excuse for the department to have its current "F" in cyber-security compliance -- or for waiting eight months to tell the Energy secretary or his committee about the security breach.

"It's unbelievable 1,500 personnel files can be compromised with Social Security numbers," Whitfield said. "The impact that can have on individuals is quite disturbing."

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34301&dcn=todaysnews

I some times think these breaches are intentional so the departments involved can ask for more money to improve their "security"

is preparing an attack against these people. This is the second defense related breach in not too long a period of time. Things that make you go "hmmmm."