Tuesday, August 15, 2000

GAO Says EPA Electronic Network Still Vulnerable The Environmental Protection Agency's electronic information network is vulnerable to "intrusions and misuse," a General Accounting Office report released Aug. 11 said, and the agency is doing little to "identify, evaluate and mitigate risks."

Requested in August 1999 by House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas J. Bliley (R-Va.), the report, Fundamental Weaknesses Place EPA Data and Operations at Risk, said EPA's computer systems are vulnerable to misuse by "individuals with malicious or criminal intentions," who may use the systems for "fraud, sabotage, or obtaining sensitive business or personnel data."

EPA temporarily shut down its Web site and other computer systems in February at Bliley's insistence after GAO issued a preliminary report finding "serious and pervasive problems" in agency computer systems. In releasing the final report Aug. 11, Bliley condemned "years of gross mismanagement," which "have left these sensitive systems and data at such serious risk for so long."

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-- Doris (reaper1@mindspring.com), August 15, 2000